


CROATOAN

by ROSIERS



Series: Unfinished but WILL finish [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, BAMF Harry, Dark Harry, Dark Magic, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Has a Twin, Harry Potter is the Heir to the House of Black, Hermione Granger Bashing, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, In the Beginning, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Paganism, Protective Slytherins, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Pureblood Harry Potter, Pureblood Lily Evans Potter, Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Pureblood Society (Harry Potter), Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherins Being Slytherins, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Weasley Bashing, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter), not really lol they're still assholes, not the twins Charlie and bill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-07-25 09:02:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 40,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16194371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ROSIERS/pseuds/ROSIERS
Summary: On Halloween of 1981, Averick Potter's life changed for good. Her twin sister, Hyacinth, had been hailed the savior of the entire Wizarding World and Averick had more or less been thrown to the side.Not that she remembered that, of course.St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage of Bristol was no place for a child to be raised. Unfortunately, Averick Smith was an orphan and didn't have the luxury of having a choice. Given to Mother Superior at the ripe age of fifteen months old, all Averick had ever known was the dreadful place she was forced to call home. Averick was sure that her fate was to meet death in the orphanage - either by the hands of the Sisters or her fellow children.That is, until, the day of July 31st, 1991.Her eleventh birthday.





	1. Introduction, Cast, & Playlist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, obviously some things are going to be changed in this series but let's just set somethings straight:
> 
> I don't give a fuck if you don't like my characters, I don't wanna hear about 'sHe'S a MArY sUE', if you wanna critique, be constructive.
> 
> There will be some characters that you don't recognize from the novels that are of my own creation including but not limited to:
> 
> //// 
> 
> Orion and Alphard Black, the twin sons of the late Regulus Black and the late Ariadne Malfoy. Neither are Heir to the House of Black because Sirius, despite being imprisoned, still is.
> 
> Adonis Rosier, son of Evan Rosier.
> 
> Abraxas Malfoy, elder brother of Draco Malfoy.
> 
> Rigel and Rhesus Lestrange, twin sons of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange.
> 
> Kamil Dolohov, son of Antonin Dolohov.
> 
> ////
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> ROSIERS
> 
> IMPORTANT A/N BELOW (11.2.18)
> 
> CHARACTERS AND CAST ARE SIMILAR/EVEN THE SAME AS SOME OF MY OTHER STORIES BUT THAT'S BECAUSE I'M LAZY AND I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE CHARACTERS THAT I ALREADY HAVE DRAWN OUT IN MY HEAD, THERE IS NO CORRELATION TO THE STORIES AT ALL! SOME PERSONALITIES WILL BE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT, THEY JUST LOOK THE SAME AND HAVE THE SAME NAMES BECAUSE I'M LAZY

_ **INTRODUCTION, CAST, AND PLAYLIST** _

_On Halloween of 1981, Averick Potter's life changed for good. Her twin sister, Hyacinth, had been hailed the savior of the entire Wizarding World and Averick had more or less been thrown to the side._

_Not that she remembered that, of course._

_St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage of Bristol was no place for a child to be raised. Unfortunately, Averick Smith was an orphan and didn't have the luxury of having a choice. Given to Mother Superior at the ripe age of fifteen months, all Averick had ever known was the dreadful place she was forced to call home. Averick was sure that her fate was to meet death in the orphanage - either by the hands of the Sisters or her fellow children._

_That is, until, the day of July 31st, 1991._

_Her eleventh birthday._

* * *

**_Cast_ **

_**Averick "Smith" Potter** _

_[Odessa Young]_

__

__

**_Hyacinth Potter_ **

_[Grace Phipps]_

__

**__ **

**_Tom Riddle_ **

_[Tom Hughes]_

__

**_Theodore Nott_ **

_[Bill Skarsgard]_

__

**_Adonis Rosier_ **

_[Marc Schulze]_

__

  **** ** _Orion Black_**

_[Ezra Miller]_

__

**_Alphard Black_ **

_[Ben Barnes]_

__

**_Abraxas Malfoy_ **

_[Lucky Blue Smith]_

__

**_Rhesus Lestrange_ **

_[Francisco Lachowski]_

__

**_Rigel Lestrange_ **

_[Sebastian Stan]_

__

  _ **Kamil Dolohov**_

_[Vladimir Ivanov]_

******_Daphne Greengrass_ **

_[Gigi Hadid]_

__

_**Pansy Parkinson** _

_[Emma Greenwell]_

__

**_Aries Travers_ **

_[Aaron Taylor Johnson]_

__

_**Tracey Davis** _

_[Katie McGrath]_

__

_**Landon Avery** _

_[Jeremy Dufour]_

__

  ** _Krios Carrow_**

_[Dane Dehaan]_

__

_**Hugh Mulciber** _

_[Tyler Young]_

__

_**Evanus Selwyn** _

_[Gregg Sulkin]_

__

* * *

_**Playlist** _

**_<https://open.spotify.com/user/cj7lviq4hno9j2bbnl6nnd7pm/playlist/7bZ2wBdLW8XOXi8MwGt8Y3?si=LNxntpGdSWWLGfCjFdw65g> _ **

_you should see me in a crown, Billie Eilish_

_A Little Wicked, Valerie Broussard_

_Borderline, Tove Stryke_

_Power & Control, Marina & The Diamonds_

_Control, Halsey_

_Woman King, Iron & Wine_

_Flicker (Kanye Rework), Lorde_

_Run For Your Life, K.Flay_

_Wreak Havoc, Skylar Grey_

_Medieval Warfare, Grimes_

_Daddy Issues, The_ _Neighbourhood_

_The Love Club, Lorde_

_This Is Gospel, Panic! At The Disco_

_Monsters, Ruelle_

_I Wanna Be Yours, Arctic Monkeys_

_Girl With One Eye, Florence and the Machines_

_Black Wave, K.Flay_

_Jungle, X Ambassadors_

_Warriors, Imagine Dragons_

* * *

_**Started: Oct. 2nd 2018** _

_**Ended:** _

* * *

**_I do not own the Harry Potter series. All credits go to respective creators. I do own the characters you do not recognize and the plot lines you don't recognize. Do not steal them._ **

**_Thank you._**  


	2. Prologue

_**Prologue** _

 

_Lily Evans Potter gazed down at her two beautiful daughters with a soft smile._

_Hyacinth and Averick._

_She and James had only been expecting one child so when the nurse told her that there was another child, she was delighted. Not at the moment, of course, she was in far too much pain to be happy over another child but now, it was the best thing that ever happened to her._

_Lily brushed her fingers over Averick's forehead, "I love you, baby," she told her daughter. Averick had been the second, unexpected daughter but that didn't make her any less loved between her and James._

_Beneath her, Averick giggled, her bright amber eyes flickering up to her mother._

_Lily's smile faltered at the eye color. She wasn't sure where it had come from: James had hazel eyes and Lily had green eyes, which she shared with Hyacinth._

_She brought her hand up and touched the pendant that hung around her neck. She had it since birth and was unsure of who gave it to her or when she had received it but there had been something about it that made her never want to take it off._

_Except for now._

_As if something else were compelling her, she slipped the pendant off of her head and placed it gently around Averick's neck. The seventh month old girl touched the pendent and lifted it above her head so she could look at it._

_Averick giggled again before dropping it on her chest._

_"WHERE'S MY GODDAUGHTER?" Lily rolled her eyes as Sirius bounded into the room and scooped up Averick into his arms. Averick was smiling widely as Sirius gently rocked her back and forth. Behind him, Remus chuckled and picked up Hyacinth, who started cooing when she saw him._

_"Merlin, Sirius," Lily complained, "They're both going to be deaf before they're thirty if you keep yelling like that."_

_Sirius just laughed rolling his eyes and she felt James wrap his arms around her waist from behind._

_Lily smiled._

_She wished that this could last forever._

* * *

_Voldemort gazed down at the dead body of Lily Potter - **a shame, really,** he thought. He had given her the chance to step aside, but the foolish girl had refused. She should have known that her daughters' deaths were inevitable at this point._

_He stepped towards the crib in which both children laid. One of them cried loudly, the other silent. Voldemort couldn't quite grasp how these two children were going to lead to his demise one day, they were pathetic._

_His eyes fell upon the silent child who gazed up at Voldemort with blank, amber eyes. **Averick** , he recognized from Peter Pettigrew's descriptions of the two children._

_"Averick," he unconsciously said aloud, frowning at the pleasant feeling that coursed through him as her name rolled off of his tongue. Averick didn't react to her name, rather, she clutched her necklace tighter in her hand._

_Voldemort's eyes drew from the crying twin to Averick, steeling himself, he let out a breath. "You first, then," he murmured, pointing his wand at the amber-eyed child._

_"_ ** _Avada Kadavra,"_ ** _he said and the last thing he saw before pain took over his body was two amber eyes staring unblinkingly at him._

* * *

_Dumbledore sighed as he carried young Averick Potter through the streets of Briston._

_He had already dropped Hyacinth off at Petunia and Vernon Dursley's home. He had hesitated before doing so, unsure of how Petunia and Vernon would react at taking in a magical child but they had welcomed Hyacinth with open arms after Petunia mourned her sister's death._

_The two sisters had rekindled their relationship not long after the birth of the twins and it had only been growing stronger until Lily's untimely death. Petunia offered to take Averick in as well but Dumbledore refused, telling them that he already had another family willing to take her in._

_He lied._

_There was nowhere else to send Averick which is why he was traveling through Briston in the middle of the night. He had said that because he knew that Hyacinth, as the Girl-Who-Lived needed as much care and protection as possible, he couldn't have Averick taken any of that away from her._

_St. Joseph's Catholic Orphanage of Bristol, one of the last open orphanages in England, would have to become young Averick's home._

_He kneeled down and placed the sleeping child into a conjured basket before summoning a quill and some parchment._

**_Averick. July 31, 1980._ **

_He let out another breath and stood up, looking down at the child one last time only to jump as two eerie amber eyes peered up at him, unblinking._

_He knew deep, deep down that it was wrong, but it was simply for the Greater Good, and he would bear the guilt for as long as would live._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but what do you expect from the prologue?
> 
> Next chapter will be up soon and will be longer.
> 
> Please leave reviews! :)


	3. Room 313

**_Room 313_ **

_"how did a girl like me end up in a world so mean?"_

_____

Glaring up at the dull ceiling, the girl's only recourse was to listen to the ticking of the wall clock above her door. _Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick tock._  It was enough to drive a person insane. She let out a brief smile at the thought - as if she weren't already.

She could leave the room, of course, but that was a near death wish. There were over three hundred and fifty orphans currently living in St. Joseph's main facility and stepping out of the safety of your room meant confrontation was likely. There weren't enough Sisters to manage the children, many of whom were violent and angry and only got even more so as they got older. 

Truthfully, she would rather have conflict with one of the other children than be forced to go face-to-face with one of the Sisters - they were far more cruel and far more ruthless.

The orphanage loses around fifty children a year to sickness, starvation, abuse and murder - no one ever did anything about it, no one ever noticed.

Why would they?

No one cares about orphans.

She fingered the long necklace that was tied around her neck - it was the only thing her parents left her after they abandoned her here. She lifted it up looked at it. A leather string with an odd metal symbol attached to it - three overlapping triangles shaped as a single unending line that completed all three shapes as one. There were odd markings in the metal ring around the symbol that resembled some form of hieroglyphs.

She didn't know what it meant and when she asked one of the kinder Sisters the meaning, the woman just shook her head and stepped back. 

_"It is an evil Pagan symbol, child. You keep that away from me. The only reason you're allowed to keep the wretched thing is because it was the only thing left by the one that left you here."_

It was safe to say that after that conversation she never wore the pendant outside of her shirt again. There was no reason to draw the ire and the whips of the Sisters more than necessary.

She thought, briefly, to the letter she had received yesterday from outside the window to her room. _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ , a hoax, no doubt but a small part of her couldn't help but wonder if the pendant around her neck had anything to do with it.

It didn't matter. She burned it as soon as she saw the word _witchcraft_  upon it. The Sisters already targeted her because they believed she came from a Pagan family, she didn't want to give them a reason for them to believe she was a witch too.

There was no doubt in her mind that if they did find out, she would end up like the other children who mysteriously disappeared from the orphanage.

She jolted as a sharp knock at her door made her heart nearly stop. She slipped the pendant beneath her shirt as whoever was behind the door knocked again.

"Miss Smith!" 

_Sister Jude._

"Come in," she snapped and at once, the elder Sister stepped into the room with an older woman steps behind her. 

"This is Professor McGonagall from a boarding school in Scotland. She says you've received a full ride to attend. She will be speaking to you about your circumstances and what you'll need to do," she explained and with that, Sister Jude left, shutting the door harshly behind her.

Her amber eyes snapped to the old woman, "Unlikely," she said coldly, "I haven't taken any tests or anything. There's no reason for me to have gotten some scholarship to your fancy prep school."

Professor McGonagall smiled lightly, probably used to such reactions, "Of course there is," she said, "I believe you received your letter of acceptance yesterday."

Averick Smith glared darkly at the woman, "I'm no witch," she hissed, "witchcraft is the work of the devil."

McGonagall's small smile didn't falter, "I don't think you believe that, Miss Smith."

Averick swore that beneath her shirt her pendant was burning against her skin. She took in a sharp breath, "It doesn't matter what I believe," she said darkly, "It matters what the Sisters believe and if they believe I'm any type of _witch_ , they'll kill me. Just like they do to all of the other dissenters."

McGonagall's smile had tightened at her words. Of course she hadn't realized what was going on in this wretched place, nobody did. "Your caregivers-"

"They are not my _caregivers_ ," Averick responded sharply. "That connotes that they actually give a shit about us."

McGonagall sighed, "The Sisters will be under the belief that you're at an elite boarding school for the entirety of the school year. You have nothing to worry about." Averick simply stared at her. "Miss Smith-"

"My last name isn't Smith," Averick cut her off, "They just gave me it because they don't know what it is. Call me Averick."

Averick hated being called _Smith_ , it was just another testimony to the fact that her parents abandoned her and didn't even bother letting her know what her true full name was. How fucked up was that?

McGonagall inhaled sharply at her words "Averick," she corrected, "I know that odd things have happened to you - unexplainable things, it happens to all young witches and wizards."

Averick flashed back to the terrifying reoccurring dreams that were too real to just be dreams, she thought to all of the times that she had blacked out and woken up to the word _CROATOAN_  carved in wood and written on papers - she knew she had done it, she just didn't remember when - and how sometimes, how when she looked in the mirror, she would see a figure in the background, a dirty figure with leaves in their hair and mud on their skin, their body covered by animal skin. 

_Maybe she's right._

"Okay, and if I decide to go with you, what will that entail?" she questioned and for a moment, she swore that she saw the woman frown, but the expression was gone before Averick could really even consider it.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow to go to and get your school supplies and then the term begins on September 1st. The train leaves from Platform Nine and Three Quarters from London's King's Cross Station-"

"London is three hours away from here. I have no means of getting there," Averick countered, turning to look out the window. It was gloomy, _how predictable._

"We will handle that, of course, Averick. There are also some things that must be explained when we get to Diagon Alley," she said hesitantly, "There were those that were against telling you, but it goes against my morals to not."

Averick's eyes narrowed, "Like what?"

McGonagall sighed lightly, "Your family," Averick's eyes widened but McGonagall shook her head, "On another note, I hope you're not squeamish," she chuckled and Averick turned to her, slightly alarmed.

She thought to all of the mangled bodies left by the other children and the Sisters.

"I'm not," she said, "Why?"

The older woman smiled mysteriously, "You'll see."

___

Later that night, as Averick was going down the stairs for dinner, she ran into the one person she hoped to avoid: Collin Dumont, a sixteen year old orphan who lost his parents to a fire three years ago. He was one of the worst of the violent kids. Unnecessarily cruel, dangerous, and the rumors went that he was the one that mutilated, violated and murdered twelve-year-old Hanna Langston last year.

She remembered the way that they found the body. One of the younger ones found what was left of her first and when he had screamed, everyone else came running.

Averick wasn't one to get queasy over little things, but the way Hanna was left... Her tongue and eyes had been missing and there was blood running down her thighs and and face. There were cuts and bruises all over her body, which seemed to be broken in more than one place.

It was safe to say that Collin Dumont was one of the only orphans that she actively avoided.

"Smith," Dumont called, grabbing her wrist harshly and pulling her towards him as she went to go down the steps. Averick internally cursed as she stumbled back and into his chest. She moved away from him sharply, but his grip was too tight. "There are rumors, Smith, that you got a scholarship to some fancy boarding school. Why you?" 

"Hell if I know," she lied, "Get off of me."

Dumont leered down at her, "I don't think so," he said, one of his hands finding a place on her lower hip in a bruising grip. "I think you're going to tell me unless you want to find out what Langston went through."

Averick glared at him and just as Dumont lifted his hand to backhand her, she felt rage sweep through her bones and fury course through her blood. With monstrous strength that certainly wasn't her own, Averick shoved the older boy as hard as she could and watched with diluted shock as he crashed through the wooden railing down three floors to his inevitable death.

 _Where did that come from?_  

Averick looked over the railing once more as some of the kids began running towards the fallen body on the first floor. She was far more concerned with the uncontrollable fury and lethal strength that had overcome her so easily than the fact that she had murdered Collin Dumont.

Because that anger - that strength - it was the first time that she had done something like that, she couldn't say the same about murder.

___

The next day came quickly, the brief chaos with the death of Dumont passed over like a breeze and the Sisters burned the body and the orphans forgot about it within the hour.

Orphans died left and right in St. Joseph's, and Dumont's murder was more of a relief than something to be worried about. 

At eight o'clock in the morning, Averick was met with a knock at her door. Already dressed and ready to go, she opens the door after the first knock obviously startling the woman on the other side of the door.

"Averick," the woman greeted amicably, "I believe it's time for us to go get your school supplies and for you to learn some things about your family."

 


	4. Potter, Not Smith

_**Potter, Not Smith** _

_"i swear to god you don't want to test me."_

* * *

She realized quickly what McGonagall had meant the previous night when she questioned the resolve of her stomach. McGonagall told Averick that they were to apparate to Diagon Alley because there were no ' _Floos_ ' in the vicinity. 

When Averick had questioned what, exactly, apparition was, McGonagall just smiled and explained that it was a method of transportation that would magically transport the caster to their desired location. She also explained that it's usually nauseating for someone on their first time.

It was the last thing that Averick wanted to hear. There were only two things she genuinely hated more than vomiting and that was the Sisters and the other orphans.

"Are you ready?" McGonagall asked her and Averick grimaced.

"As I'll ever be," she muttered and the older woman took her arm.

"Make sure you hold on as tight as possible and under no circumstances should you let go," McGonagall warned her and Averick nodded, she'd already been told this three times by her.

Averick took in a deep breath, bracing herself for the apparition. At once, Averick felt a sharp tug in her gut and the ground lurch from underneath her. Her entire body felt as if it were being forced through a tight rubber tube. 

She couldn't breathe and she couldn't think, her grip loosed on McGonagall but just as she was about to let go, the world around her solidified and she was standing in the middle of an alley.

Averick attempted and failed to steel her emotions as she gazed around the area in awe. There were shops selling robes, telescopes, silver instruments that Averick had never seen before. Windows were stacked with odd-looking materials, piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment.

It was incredible.

She heard McGonagall laugh lightly above her and immediately Averick's expression went emotionless. "Everyone has the same reaction when they first see it," she said as if reminiscing the first time she saw the alley herself.

Averick didn't respond, rather she looked away and changed the subject, "Where do we go first?"

"Gringotts," McGonagall responded, "And on the way there, I'll explain everything."

Averick's breath caught in her throat at McGonagall's words. For as long as she could remember, the only thing she ever wanted to know was her family. Who they were, why they left her, what  _happened_ to them - the questions plagued her throughout childhood. Even within an orphanage, most of the children's parents had died and had nowhere else to go and yet hers just up and abandoned her on the step in the middle of the night.

 _I could have died_   _if Sister Jude hadn't of stepped outside for a smoke before bed. It was too cold and there were animals that lived around the orphanage that could have easily snatched and eaten me._

Resentment flooded through her, she didn't want to know. There was no excuse for it.

None.

McGonagall, noting her sudden anger, sighed, "Your parents didn't abandon you, Miss Potter."

Averick's eyes shot towards the woman, "What did you just call me?" she asked with a frown and McGonagall just smiled.

"You are Averick Potter, not Smith," she said, "Your parents were James Potter and Lily Evans Potter, two of the strongest wizards and witches that I've ever had the pleasure of teaching."

Averick frowned.  _Averick Potter..._

_I'd rather be Averick Smith._

"If they're so strong," Averick began bitterly, "then why did they abandon me like a stray dog."

McGonagall looked pained for a moment, "They would have never done so willingly, Miss Potter. They loved you and your sister more than anything in the world, more than their own lives."

Averick's breath stopped. For so long, she had wished that her parents were dead so she didn't have to live with the fact that they abandoned her and now she was hearing it and... and it killed her a little inside.

To hear that they had loved her - that they had  _died_ for her - and she spent the last ten years  _hating_ them more than anything else in the world...

"I have a sister?" Averick asked quietly, "What's her name? Why wasn't she with me?"

McGonagall grimaced, "Your sister's name is Hyacinth Potter. Before I explain where she is, I have to explain a much darker topic: the reason for your parents' deaths."

Averick frowned deeply, keeping her eyes on the cobblestone sidewalk ahead so she didn't trip - and didn't show any visible emotion to the professor.

"On Halloween of 1981, your family was attacked by an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous Dark Wizard: The Dark Lord, Voldemort," McGonagall began. The name itself sent chills down Averick's spine and it took every ounce of self-icontrol to not unconsciously rub her arms. "Your father was killed holding him off and your mother shielded the two of you with her own body-" McGonagall's words caught and she closed her eyes, obviously trying to regain her momentarily lost composure. "Then the Dark Lord turned on you and your sister to kill you both, which is the moment when your sister was hailed the Girl-Who-Lived."

"What do you mean?" Averick asked, annoyed, "I lived too, what's so special about her."

McGonagall gave her a small smile. Gentle, but Averick felt it condescending.

She hated it.

"Your sister survived the Killing Curse, Miss Potter, and vanquished the Dark Lord. She did something that was thought impossible and saved the entire Wizarding World.

Averick frowned deeply, "Ah," she said, considering McGonagall's words. _The Killing Curse_ , she thought, _quite self-explanatory, but that doesn't explain why Hyacinth was able to survive._ "How did she do it?" she asked, curious.

McGonagall blinked, obviously not expecting the question, "No one knows," she admitted, "No one was there to witness aside from you, yourself, and you obviously don't remember."

"Then how do you know she survived the Killing Curse?" Averick questioned, "If no one saw her do it and it's said to be impossible, how do we know that she actually survived the curse. Voldemort's spell could have just backfired on himself, couldn't it have?"

 _Hyacinth is not special,_ Averick thought vehemently,  _she's not more special than I am. There has to be a logical explanation._

 "Headmaster Dumbledore performed many scans over the room and deemed that she did, in fact, survive the Killing Curse," McGonagall said after a moment of thought, "She has a scar on her forehead as proof."

 _A scar! That could simply be from falling rubble! This is ridiculous_ , Averick thought angrily but externally, she let out a small smile, "Well, that's incredible," she said, lying through her teeth but McGonagall didn't seem to notice as she nodded along, "Why wasn't she in the orphanage with me?"

McGonagall hesitated and Averick knew that she wasn't about to like what she was about to say. Her eyes narrowed on a point in the distance as to not let it be known to the older woman.

"Headmaster Dumbledore sent your sister to live with relatives - your mother's sister, husband and their son. They're muggles - people without magic, that is," McGonagall explained.

Averick was confused.

Orphans go to orphanages because they have no remaining family.

Averick has a family.

_Why was I put into the orphanage?_

"He thought it would be best for you to be far away. There are protective spells around the house and Dumbledore is under the belief that one day, the Dark Lord will come back and target your sister," McGonagall explained.

Confusion turned to anger.

McGonagall turned into a Sister.

Averick looked up at the woman and pretended that rather than being a professor at a school of witchcraft, she was Sister Jude. She forced her eyes and face to remain soft and her voice to be calm - if this were Sister Jude, after all, her life would be forfeit if she showed any type of negative reaction.

"I see," Averick said simply, "My life was of no concern, then?"

McGonagall, in her defense, looked genuinely pained at the question. As if she had disagreed over Averick's placement in the orphanage. "Headmaster Dumbledore believed you wouldn't be targeted because you aren't the Girl-Who-Lived," she said.

It took all of Averick's willpower to not physically hiss at the words,  _bullshit, bullshit, bullshitbullshitbulshit._ At the moment, she wasn't sure who she resented - hated, even - more: Dumbledore or her own sister.

"I understand," Averick said, giving the woman a small smile, "Thank you for explaining this to me."

McGonagall looked disturbed by her reaction and Averick wondered if she should have had a bit more of an angry reaction to her words but dismissed the thought.

_It didn't matter now._

"We're here," McGonagall said, changing the subject and Averick couldn't help the expression that overcame her face as she took in the massive snow-white marble building. "Come."

Averick followed McGonagall up a set of white stairs and through a set of burnished bronze doors. Averick's eyes drifted over to the creature standing beside the doors wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold.  _Goblin,_ she noted, remembering what McGonagall had mentioned before they left for Diagon Alley.

The doors they stepped through led into a small entrance hall and another set of doors, these one's silver, also flanked by goblins. 

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed_  
_Of what awaits the sin of greed_  
_For those who take, but do not earn,_  
_Must pay most dearly in their turn._  
_So if you seek beneath our floors_  
_A treasure that was never yours,_  
_Thief, you have been warned, beware_  
_Of finding more than treasure there._

The engraving was foreboding, for sure, but Averick had no intention of stealing from the massive bank and thus, didn't worry.

Through the silver doors, they entered a vast marble hall where a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind long counters, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.

There were too many doors to count leading off the hall and there were even more goblins showing people in and out of them.

They approached one of the counters and McGonagall began speaking to the goblin behind the counter, "Good morning," she greeted, "We've come to take some money out of Miss Averick Potter's trust fund."

"You have her key, ma'am?" the goblin asked and McGonagall nodded, pulling out an envelope and taking out a tiny gold key.

Averick frowned, "Do I get my own key to my vault?" she asked and the goblin turned to her with calculating eyes.

McGonagall opened her mouth to speak but the goblin cut her off, "This key, by all rights, is your own," he said, "It will be returned to  _you_ once we gather your money. Come."

McGonagall frowned and followed him through the door. Averick let out a soft breath as they entered a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It was sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracks on the floor. The goblin whistled and a small cart came towards them.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has been holding this key for you," McGonagall finally said, "Surely you would let him continue to keep it safe? Just in case you lose it?"

Averick looked at the woman, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll be fine. I keep close watch on all of my belongings, there's no need to worry," she looked away, making sure that McGonagall knew that the conversation was over.

She swore that in front of her, she heard the goblin snort but dismissed it as her imagination.

The cart came to a stop in front of them and the three climbed in and as soon as they were in, they were off.

Averick lost her breath as they hurtled through a maze of twisting passages, cold air stinging her eyes and burning her lungs.

Thankfully, the cart came to a stop fairly quickly. They exited the cart and the goblin took the key out of his pocket and opened the door to the vault. Averick's breath caught as she took in the sight of gold, silver and bronze.

The vault seemed to go on forever and was filled to the brim with massive amounts of money -  _is this all mine?_

McGonagall moved away to go collect some coins for her and the goblin took this moment to turn to her, "My name is Ragnok, I've been the Keeper of your vaults since you were an infant," the goblin explained, "Have you or have you not been receiving the letters we've sent to you?"

"I'm sorry," Averick said in slight disbelief, "What?"

Ragnok looked even more displeased at her words, which was saying something, "Gringotts has been sending letters to you," he shot a look towards McGonagall, "This is not the place to talk. I'll be sending a letter within the week. If you don't receive it, return to Gringotts next week."

Averick, despite being thoroughly confused, nodded, "Okay," she said.

"Come, Miss Potter," McGonagall said, looking between Ragnok and Averick with a small frown, "It's time to go."

They exited Averick's vault and Ragnok locked the vault behind them, handing Averick the key. Averick immediately placed it into her bag, not giving McGonagall suffice time to ask for the key back again.

They returned back to the main hall of Gringotts in silence and before Averick knew it they were standing back outside, facing Diagon Alley.

"I have urgent business at Hogwarts," McGonagall spoke up, "Do you think you could finish getting the rest of the supplies on your own? I'll return in a few hours to bring you back to the orphanage."

"I'll be fine," Averick said shortly, "I'll see you later. Thank you for bringing me here."

Averick began walking away, alone.

It was better this way. Now she could explore and buy what she wished without watching eyes hovering behind her. Her eyes were drawn to a nearby alley which reeked of trouble.

It was going to be a good day.


	5. Malfoy

_**Malfoy** _

_"count my cards, watch them fall."_

* * *

Knockturn Alley was quite the dodgy place. It was dark and twisty and overall gave off such a heavy, oppressive air that it made Averick's heart beat faster in her chest. 

She loved it.

It was the exact opposite of what the Sisters stood for - it was unholy, sacrilege,  _dark_ _._ The shops, which were obviously focused on Black Magic, got progressively of more sinister appearance as she made her way deeper into the alley. 

She knew that this was probably foolish of her - she knew that there were dangerous people in this alley, how could she not? She had learned how to read the most closed of people by the age of seven and these people couldn't hide their intent half as well as the Sisters could. 

_Raise your head and act as if you belong._

She drifted further down the alley until she paused in front of an interesting store.  _Critters and Creatures._

_I've always wanted a pet._

Averick, letting her greed get the best of her, abruptly turned into the small pet store. She wrinkled her nose as a musty smell overran her senses. A combination of dirty animals, an unkempt quarter and a general smell of sweat and death made Averick light headed for a brief second.

She gazed around the store. There were towers of cages stacked upon one another, all with odd types of animals that Averick had never seen before. She wondered if the magical world had its own types of creatures.

She drifted around the large room, taking in the sight of all of the unusual creatures. She noticed that they seemed to be sorted. Creatures that looked like cats, dogs, rabbits, rats, fish, anything that Averick could think of. As a particular creature, a dark rabbit with red eyes, caught her attention she heard a hissing voice behind her.

" _ **Human** ," _Averick turned and saw a long snake in a wide cage. It looked to be around seven feet long and was as thick as her forearm. The snake was black in color and it's slit eyes were coppery. She watched as it opened its mouth, revealing an inky black mouth. " _Human."_

_" **What are you**?"_

The snake reared back as the words left her mouth. Averick was sure to speak quietly as she didn't want any other patrons to overhear her. She didn't know if speaking to snakes was normal or not for wizards and witches and she didn't want to risk it.

The Sisters had not reacted kindly when they saw her hissing at a snake and she saw no reason to possibly draw similar reactions from the people of this world.

"This is an Akzax, basically the magical version of the muggle Black Mamba except much more venomous, intelligent, and larger."

 _" **Speaker** ," _the snake hissed, " _ **Speaker, take me. Speaker. Have not ever met a Speaker**."_

Averick's amber eyes widened briefly but she forced her expression back into one of neutrality as she turned to face whoever had spoken to her. It was a boy with platinum hair, maybe two or three years older than her. He was handsome, no doubt, but Averick recognized that calculating look in his eyes as him judging her, trying to figure out who she was.

"Malfoy," he finally greeted, "Abraxas Malfoy."

"Avery," Averick responded shortly. From what she gathered from McGonagall's explanation of her family, Averick knew that she shouldn't go around announcing that she was the sister of the  _Girl-Who-Lived_ freely.

"You have a last name,  _Avery_?" Abraxas Malfoy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I do," she said, perfunctory, "Do you know how much it costs?"

Abraxas looked a little amused at her refusal to admit her full name, but he let it go, "I wanted another one like that for my birthday two years ago, the shopkeepers tend to not be willing to sell Akzax due to their rarity."

"We'll see about that," Averick murmured, pulling the cage out and carrying it to the front of the store. Abraxas trailed behind her, obviously curious to see how she was going to pull this off.

The shopkeeper, Lucien Darrington, shook his head when he saw what she was carrying, "Not for sale, kid," he told her, shooing her away, "Go find something else."

"No," Averick said firmly placing the cage down on the counter, "How much?"

"I'm not changing my mind," Darrington responded and Averick raised an eyebrow.

The reaction the snake had at her being a  _Speaker_ , whatever that may be, made Averick think that it was  _rare._

She would gladly take a gamble on that.

She stepped behind the counter easily and leaned in close to Darrington so that Abraxas Malfoy couldn't hear her.

"That  _snake_ is mine," she said, her voice low, "Either you can give it to me freely or I will  _ **release him and let him kill you**."_

Darrington's eyes shot open as she slipped into the language of the snakes and Averick could practically hear his heart racing in his chest.

 _Good,_ she thought,  _it worked._

It also confirmed her suspicions on the rarity of being able to speak to snakes, which worked heavily in her favor.

"We keep this between us otherwise I'll test exactly how venomous the snake is on you," she murmured and Darrington nodded.

She wondered if _Hyacinth_ could speak to snakes and immediately realized that she probably could if Averick could, which made her deflate for a moment.

"How much for the snake?" Averick asked coldly, her mood destroyed by the realization that whatever she could do, Hyacinth probably could too.

"It's yours," Darrington stuttered, "On the house, take it."

Averick smiled lightly and unhooked the cage, letting the Akzax slither out onto her arm and wrap itself around arm and neck.

Behind her, she noticed that Abraxas looked dumbfounded.

Averick's smile widened.

"Good day," she told Lucien Darrington and walked out of the store, Abraxas followed behind quickly.

"How did you do that?" he demanded and Averick looked at him.

"I asked nicely," she replied, "If you don't mind, I still have to get fit for robes, get my wand, get my books and the rest of my supplies. It was nice meeting you."

Averick's eyes narrowed as Abraxas Malfoy grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, "Hold on a second," he said, "You're a  _first_ year?"

Averick sneered and ripped her wrist from his grasp, continuing back towards Diagon Alley, "Obviously," she spat, "Don't touch me again."

"What in Merlin's name were you doing in Knockturn Alley? Don't you know how dangerous it is?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'm fine," she countered, "Aren't I?" 

Averick continued walking away from him as he paused in his step, she forced herself to not roll her eyes as he sped up to catch up with her.

 _" **Annoying boy** ,"_ the snake hissed, rearing up from where it was resting around her shoulders when Abraxas drew close. The boy immediately backed away so he was out of striking distance of the snake.

Averick snorted. 

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Abraxas, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Abraxas Malfoy," she said and Abraxas frowned when he realized she was all but dismissing him, "I'll see you in September."

She walked away, leaving him standing there in shock.

"Who the hell  _are_ you?" Abraxas called after her but Averick just smiled to herself and turned, disappearing into the crowds of Diagon Alley. 

Averick found herself walking into Madam Malkin's shop not long after. She walked to the front desk to where Madam Malkin, herself, stood. 

Averick went to speak but Madam Malkin cut her off, "Hogwarts, I presume?" she asked, "Got the lot here - another young girl and boy are being fitted up just now, in fact."

Averick frowned and followed the woman into the back, where a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. She recognized him in the boy from earlier.

 _Must be a Malfoy_.

The girl standing next to him was pretty, no doubt, but the dark look on her face took away from the prettiness. With long dark hair and stunning green eyes, she gazed over at Averick impassively, "Hello," she greeted, "My name is Hyacinth Potter, what's your name?"

 


	6. Family Reunion

_**Family**_ ** _Reunion_ **

_"I'm a princess cut from marble, smoother than a storm."_

* * *

Averick took her place on the stool beside Hyacinth and didn't speak.  _What the hell am I supposed to say? 'Hi, I'm your sister, nice to meet you!' What a good place for a family reunion._

Averick swallowed and finally said, "My name is Avery."

Her voice came out colder than she meant for it to and Averick grimaced. Next to her, Hyacinth frowned deeply before her eyes widened and she nearly jumped off of her own stool, "Is that a snake?" she asked shrilly and Averick raised her eyebrow as her snake slithered down off of her body and onto the ground underneath the stool.

"Yes," Averick responded, "Why?"

Hyacinth, who looked pale, shook her head, "No reason," she said, her voice wavering.

Averick turned away and looked at the witch who was coming over to help get her fitted for clothes. Movement from the left caught her attention and Averick's heart went cold as she watched a family of three - a tall, willowy woman, and two whales of a man and boy - waiting by the entrance of the shop.

"That's my aunt, uncle and cousin," Hyacinth noticed where she was looking and explained, "They're muggles, but they're very nice. My aunt was my mother's sister but she treats me like her own daughter."

"That's nice," Averick responded bitterly, "Can't relate."

Hyacinth looked over to her, confused, but the witch working with her stood up and announced that she was done, and Hyacinth hopped off of the stool, grinning. "It was nice to meet you, Avery! I'll see you at Hogwarts!"

Averick watched, spiteful, as Hyacinth ran over to their aunt and uncle and cousin, laughing and chattering.  _Fuck you_ , she thought and to her horror, she felt herself get choked up.  _Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you._   _Why do you get to live with our family when I have to keep suffering at an orphanage? Where I have to worry about dying every day? It's not fair. Why do you get to be happy?_

"Annoying, isn't she?"

Averick turned to the boy who had stayed silent the entire time. Averick regarded him carefully before asking, "Are you a Malfoy?"

The boy blinked, "Uh, yeah," he said, obviously caught off guard, "Draco Malfoy. How did you know?"

"I just met who I'm assuming is your brother in Knockturn Alley a few minutes ago," Averick said, "You look like him."

The boy's eyes widened, "You went to Knockturn? How did your parents let you? What was it like? Father won't let me go until fourth year, like Abraxas, it's quite unfair."

Averick laughed resentfully, "Considering I don't have parents to stop me, it wasn't much of an argument," she said dryly and noticed that the woman working on fitting her paused briefly, "It was like any other alleyway. Nothing special."

Draco flushed in embarrassment, "I apologize," he said, "It wasn't my intention to bring up bad memories."

Averick nearly rolled her eyes, "Don't worry about that," she said bluntly, "I don't even remember it."

Draco looked even more humiliated and didn't speak again for a solid five minutes.

"What's your surname, by the way?"

But before Averick could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Averick, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," Draco said and Averick didn't respond as she walked back to the front of the room, her snake at her heels.

"That'll be ten galleons, my dear," Madam Malkin said as the two reached the front counter. Averick slipped her hand into her pocket and fished for the required amount of galleons before placing it on the counter. She felt something cold moving on her leg and found that her snake was moving back up her body to rest around her shoulders.

 ** _"You have not named me."_** the snake hissed. Averick looked down at the snake, annoyed.

"And your name?" Madam Malkin asked as she wrote down on a slip of paper. Averick hesitated and Madam Malkin noticed, frowning, "I assure you that it will be confidential. You don't need to worry about me going off to someone."

Averick grimaced, realizing she didn't have a choice, "My name is Averick Potter," she said, and she would have been amused by the way that Madam Malkin's eyes shot open if she didn't fear that soon enough the entirety of the Wizarding World would know that Averick Potter was abandoned by her family and in Diagon Alley alone.

Madam Malkin took a moment before nodding and continuing to write, "Well, Miss Potter, I hope you have a good rest of the day," she smiled, "My promise still holds."

Averick gave her a small, genuine smile, "Thank you," she said, giving her a nod before leaving the shop.

_Where to next?_

**_"Name me,"_** the snake hissed, nudging her chin harshly with its head and Averick gave it a dark look before making sure that no one was close enough to hear her as she hissed right back at it:

_**"You listen here, you demanding piece of shit, you'll wait until we get home or I swear to God I'll bring you right back to that shop."** _

If snakes could glare, Averick swore that the one around her neck would be shooting daggers at her. Ignoring it, she continued down the street stopping to buy parchment, inks and quills briefly when she noticed that the store wasn't crowded. She bought enough to last her the first few weeks as the shopkeeper mentioned that she could simply order an instantaneous supply when she ran out and she didn't want to buy a year's supply of the wrong inks, quills and parchments.

The shopkeeper, noticing that she was struggling to hold the items, offered to shrink it for her. Averick, though she didn't exactly know what it meant, nodded and the man urged that she next went to go get a wand and then go to buy her trunk and the shopkeeper there will teach her how to shrink and un-shrink her supplies.

Averick heeded his advice and came back from the way she came, stopping in front of Ollivanders.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair. Averick felt strange - as though she had entered a very strict library; she swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to her and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of her neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon, Averick Potter," Averick's eyes widened and her head whipped to the side to where an old man was standing before them, pale wide eyes shining through the gloom of the shop.

Averick's eyes narrowed, "Hello," she greeted.

"Your sister has already passed through - a beautiful wand, I sold her," Ollivander murmured, "Such a sad fate that child has and I'm afraid I sold the wand that cursed her so. Thirteen-and-a-half inches, Yes. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

He shook his head, "Now, dear, which is your dominant arm?"

"My right," Averick said easily, getting irritated at all of the attention that Hyacinth got, even when she wasn't around.

Averick went through wand after wand, similar to the ones that her sister had bought because _apparently_ twins usually had similar wands. It annoyed Averick to no end - she and Hyacinth were nothing alike, how was it they were supposed to have similar wands?

After going through half a dozen wands, Ollivander suddenly fixed Averick with his pale stare, "I wonder..." he took a wand from the other side of the counter and placed it on top, "Here, cherry and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Nice and supple."

Averick lifted the wand and immediately felt warmth in his fingers. "This is it," she breathed out, feeling the power seep through her fingers.

Ollivander had an odd look on his face that even Averick, who was so good at reading people, could not discern. "Curious," he said quietly, "Cherry makes a wand that often makes a wand that possesses truly lethal power, whatever the core - and that core just so happens to be from the same phoenix that gave your sister that scar of hers. Interesting that it has chosen you, and not your sister."

Averick felt slightly disturbed at his words, as ominous as they sounded. 

"Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Miss Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things -- terrible, yes, but great."

Even more unnerved, Averick paid the seventeen gold Galleons for her wand and a holster and left, going towards the trunk store across the street. She didn't spend more than ten minutes in the store and yet it was where she spent the most money - a whopping one hundred Galleons for a five compartment, silver trunk. After setting her passwords, the shopkeeper came back and set a few more protection spells, an automatic shrinking spell and an expansion spell.

After leaving the trunk store, she got her potions materials and then made her way over to Flourish and Blotts to get her school books. She spent longer than intended in there, getting immersed in all of the different types of books.  _Curses, hexes, jinxes, it was never-ending._

She shook her head - she would buy what was needed now and then when she came back to Gringotts next week she'd buy what interested her. She looked back down at her list as she had the storekeeper shrink her books and place them in her trunk.

 She looked at the time and realized that she should head back to Gringotts to meet McGonagall, who was already waiting outside. The older woman smiled when she saw Averick, but the smile faltered when she saw the snake draped across her.

"Miss Potter, I'm afraid snakes are not permitted pets in Hogwarts," McGonagall told her, "You'll have to bring it back to where you got it."

Averick forced her eye not to twitch in annoyance.  _They leave me to die in an orphanage and they won't even permit me the pet I want._

 ** _"Tell her we bond,"_** the snake hissed,  _ **"Tell her we bond."**_

"We've bonded," Averick said simply, forcing herself not to look over at the snake, praying that it didn't lead her down the wrong path.

McGonagall's eyes widened at her words and Averick felt relieved as McGonagall nodded, "I see," she said, "I'll speak with the Headmaster. I doubt he will force you to part with your familiar. What is its name?"

Averick gave her snake a long look before a name hit her. She smiled slowly.  _The Sisters would surely have a heart attack._

"His name is Valac," she said.

 _Valac,_ she thought,  _a demon described in the Lesser Key of Solomon. The Marquis of Snakes._

Her snake let out a long hiss of approval and Averick patted the top of its head. McGonagall looked slightly disturbed but shook it off quickly. "Shall we?"

Averick nodded.

_We shall._

* * *

"Ava! Where have you been?" Averick started as she made her way back up to her room, carefully to keep out of sight of the Sisters, who were no doubt making their rounds around the orphanage. 

They wouldn't be happy to see a snake wrapped around the supposed Pagan girl.

Averick turned, wide-eyed, only to relax as her eyes fell upon her only friend in this God-forsaken place, James Maddox. "James," she greeted with a genuine smile, "Hey."

James was two years older than her and has been at the orphanage since he was six months old - he's the only one that's been here longer than Averick. They hated each other up until Averick's sixth birthday when they finally became friends after they made a mutual enemy of a slightly older boy, Joseph Wring, who met his untimely demise three years ago at Averick's hands after he put James in the hospital for two weeks.

"Where have you been?" he hissed, "Is that a snake? Is it true that you're going to some boarding school?"

"Yes, and yes," she responded to his last two questions and ignoring his first. "His name is Valac."

James snorted loudly, "Please don't let the Sisters hear that you got a snake and named it after a demon. They're already after you because of your birth family."

Averick nodded, "I know," she said simply, "I leave for boarding school on the first of September, but next week I have to go get school supplies and I'm unsure if I'll return."

"What do you mean?" James frowned deeply, "You're leaving."

"Hopefully for good," Averick nodded, "I need to go and meet some... people next week before school starts and I'm going to try and just get a room at a nearby inn until the school year starts."

James nodded, smiling softly, "Good, you of all people deserve to get out of this shit hole, Ava. I'm happy for you."

Averick rolled her eyes, nudging him with her shoulder, "Don't act like you're never going to see me again, J. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

James laughed, rolling his eyes, "I can only pray," he said sarcastically and Averick laughed loudly before shoving him.

"Hey!" he complained as he tripped over his own foot and fell to the ground. Averick started laughing harder and continued to her room, which was only a few doors down. Just as she was about to enter, James called out from behind her. "Hey, Ava!"

Averick turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

He winked at her, "Nice work with Dumont."

Averick's lips lifted into a small smirk.

"Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all better be ready for some big reveals next chapter ;)


	7. The House of Black

**_The House of Black_ **

_"go ahead and cry little girl."_

* * *

A week passed and no letter came for Averick Potter. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she knew it must've not meant anything good. 

_Is someone intercepting my mail?_

_But why?_

She had said goodbye to James and to her absolute horror, she had begun tearing up. Before any tears could fall though, she had pulled away and left the orphanage - hopefully for the last time ever.

Now, after an hour and forty minute train ride, Averick stood in front of Gringotts, by herself. She didn't know what this visit entailed, but she could only hope that it was fruitful. Averick let out a breath and walked through the large doors of the palace-like building. She walked over to the front desk where she recognized Ragnok, from one week ago.

She approached the front desk and announced herself, "Ragnok," she said, "I received no letter."

Ragnok looked up and then grimaced, "I presumed not. I sent it the day after your visit," he said and Averick frowned.

"What does this mean?" Averick questioned.

"It could mean many things, Miss Potter, but before anything else, we'll have to do some mandatory prerequisite tests - just for precautionary reasons," Ragnok said, waving for her to follow him. Averick followed silently until they reached a pale office. "Please, take a seat."

Averick did as told and took a seat across from where he sat behind the desk. He reached into his desk, shifting through papers until he brought out a large parchment. He snapped his fingers and Averick watched, impressed, as the parchment shimmered for a few seconds before going back to its previous state.

Averick's eyes were drawn to a mirror facing herself on his desk and she could feel her face drain of color as she saw a familiar figure standing in the back of the room.

Long ratty black hair, burning amber eyes, dirty skin covered by pure animal skin.

 _She's closer_ , she thought, horrified. Instinctually, she knocked the mirror away from her and it hit the ground on the other side of Ragnok's desk, shattering.

Ragnok looked up at her, unamused.

"I apologize," she breathed out, rattled, "I-It was instinctual."

Ragnok shook his head and flipped the parchment around towards her, "This piece of parchment will ratify that you are, in fact, Averick Potter. Before we go into deeper discussion about your vaults and possible heirships, this is a necessary step." He placed a small knife on the table in front of her, "You must spill a drop of blood onto the parchment."

Averick hesitated for a moment before nodding, picking up the knife and making a small cut into her thumb. Holding her hand over the parchment, she watched a single drop of blood splatter onto the yellowing parchment.

Averick held her breath as she watched crimson words form on the parchment.

_**Averick Astrea Potter** _

_Father_ _: James Charlus Potter (deceased)_

_ Blood Status: Pureblood_

_Mother : Lillian Calypatric Potter née MacQuayne-Evans (deceased)_

_ Blood Status **:** Pureblood_

_Blood Adopted_ _Father : Sirius Orion Black (incarcerated)_

_ Blood Status: Pureblood_

_Magical Guardian:_ _Albus Dumbledore (nullified)_

_ Blood Status: Half-Blood_

_Titles:_

_Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black (by blood)_

_Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin (by conquest)_

_Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell (by blood and conquest)_

_Lady of the Noble and Most Ancient House of MacQuayne (by blood)_

_Emancipated as of October 31st, 1981_

_Vaults:_

_Potter Trust Vault_

_Black Trust Vault_

_MacQuayne Family Vaults_

* * *

Averick was unsure of how long that she stared at the parchment, but it was long enough to fully forget the incident with the mirror.

Ragnok allowed her silence as he sat back and watched her take in the information.

"I do not understand," Averick began slowly, trying to reign in rising fury and failing, "If I am  _heir_ to so many houses, a  _Lady_ of one, and have been  _emancipated_ , how did I end up in a  _filthy_ _muggle orphanage?"_

Ragnok stared down at the paper, "That is a question I would like to have answered as well," he murmured. He shook his head and stood up, "Excuse me, for a moment." 

Averick didn't respond, seething in a mess of fury and hatred for her  _Magical Guardian._

**_"Do you want me to kill them?"_ **

Averick looked down at Valac, who slithered up her legs and was resting on her lap,  ** _"I will do so myself,"_** she said and Valac let out what appeared to be a hiss of laughter before laying back down in her lap.

Ragnok returned not minutes later with four boxes. Three the size of rings and one a little larger.

"Now that we finally have proof of your titles, you can claim your heirships and lordship over your houses. You'll have to decide which of the three heirships you'll want as your dominant heirship. All three will, of course, reap you the same benefits, but your dominant heirship is what you will be referred to in conversation..." Ragnok hesitated, "Or I suppose not, as Lady of the House of MacQuayne, that is what you'll be referred to. But the matter still stands."

Averick thought for a moment, "Sirius Orion Black is my blood adopted father, I'll take the Black heirship as my dominant heirship," she said.

She wasn't quite sure what a blood adopted father was, but she could only assume that it meant he was basically a second father to her - by blood and legality.

Ragnok nodded, "A good choice." He reached forward and opened one of the ring boxes. Averick leaned forward, taking in a good look. The ring was ornate, but not overly so. The crest of the House of Black was engraved in the single gem adorning the deep silver band as well as two words.

_Toujours Pur._

"Always pure," she murmured, and Ragnok looks up, surprised, as he slipped the ring onto the middle finger of her right hand.

"You know French?" he questioned and Averick nodded.

"I do," she said, "For the children that have lived in the orphanage since infancy becoming fluent in Latin and French was a necessity - if we weren't by the age of ten, they would have all but killed us."

Ragnok's eyes flashed viciously but he turned back, "The next two rings will go on the index finger and pinky of the same hand. It doesn't matter which is which."

"The Slytherin ring on my pinky and the Peverell ring on my index finger," Averick said and Ragnok nodded.

Opening the Peverell ring's box first, Averick noted that it was similarly not a large ring. Rather it was a simple metal band with an odd symbol consisting of a triangle and a circle inside of it with a line down the middle. He put the ring on her ring finger and opened the final ring box.

This ring was for more decorated than the other two. The thick metal band was engraved with multiple green gemstones, the largest of which was on the top with a snake carved into it.

 _It was beautiful,_ Averick thought, watching as it was put onto her pinky finger, automatically adjusting to the size of her pinky.  _And it's mine._

"This last piece declares you as head of the House of MacQuayne, but there are some things you must understand first," Ragnok said and Averick nodded, waiting for him to continue. "The House of MacQuayne is an ancient, very dark American family. Their founding dates back to long before European colonization of the Americans which is why their... customs are different from the European families like the Blacks," he began. "The MacQuayne family, as far as we know, does not care for age when it comes to titles like lordships, which is why you were emancipated when your mother died."

Averick looked up with a frown, "I assumed that I didn't have the Potter heirship because  _Hyacinth_ is the eldest sibling. Why did she not get the MacQuayne lordship?"

Ragnok let out a grimace of a smile when he nodded, "The MacQuaynes rely on magic to choose a suitable lord. Magic chose you."

"How do you know all of this?" Averick asked with a frown, "If the MacQuayne's are an American Wizarding family, how you are privy to this information?"

"The MacQuayne family worked closely with the goblins once Gringotts opened. They were our first true customer, of sorts."

"I see," Averick said, her mind running at insane paces, trying to absorb all of this information, "What does the lordship give me?"

"Seats on the Wizengamot, primarily, which is Wizarding Britain's highest court of law and parliament-"

"I thought the MacQuaynes were American."

"And they are," Ragnok confirmed, "But they're also one of the oldest Wizarding Families in existence. Their only rivals are the Egyptian Pharaohs and the Japanese Tsukiyamas, who both also have seats on the Wizengamot. Eventually, you will have to announce your intention to claim your seats at a meeting. I suggest you wait until next summer so you have time to accustom yourself to the Wizarding World, and more importantly, the world of pureblood society."

Averick slowly nodded, she was able to figure what exactly a pureblood was when she read it on the parchment. She figured that the old Wizarding families must feel some sort of scorn towards those born to muggles - she was glad that she didn't end up giving those two brothers her last name.

"Are there books to teach me, then?" Averick asked, curious as to if she would need to learn by experience.

Ragnok grinned ferally, "Better," he said, "I think it's time for you to visit the home of the House of Black."

Averick slowly smiled, "Sounds like a plan," she noted.

"But first," Ragnok said, opening the larger box, "The MacQuayne ancestral heirloom."

Averick's breath caught as she stared down at the piece of jewelry. Ragnok secured it around her wrist and she held her arm out in front of her face, taking in the beauty of the treasure. It was large, completely covering her arm from the middle of her forearm, v-ing into the top of her hand to the knuckle of her middle finger - almost like a glove. There were jewels and gems engraved into the metal as well as a Latin phrase:

_Est enim sanguis sanguinem_

_Blood must have blood._

Averick liked it - the family motto and the heirloom. It was for sure a saying that she could live by.

Averick looked at Ragnok, curious, "Why are you helping me?" she asked him, "You have no reason to."

"I'm not doing this for you, Lady MacQuayne," Ragnok said. Averick felt a chill run down her spine as she was called by her title - a good chill. "I'm doing this because Albus Dumbledore has scorned the goblins one too many times."

"That's as good a reason as any," Averick smiled slowly, she knew the lust of revenge all too well. "Now," she said, "Where might I find the ancestral home of the House of Black?"

* * *

She found herself sitting on a muggle bus not long after.  _To 12 Grimmauld Place then,_ she thought to herself. The drive gave her a lot of time to think about everything that's happened since her eleventh birthday.

Everything hit her like a truck and Averick placed her head in her hands, feeling her eyes well up.

 _I'm only a fucking kid, this is too much_. 

She had a family that she wasn't allowed to live with. She was abandoned by her supposed _guardian._ Everyone who loved her was dead. She has killed and hurt and manipulated with no remorse. She had almost been killed time and time again and yet she was alive.

She was alive.

Averick took in a deep breath and looked up.  _There's no time to cry for my lost childhood just yet. First, we_ _fight - for justice, for vengeance_ , she thought to herself, _then we mourn._

 _I am Averick MacQuayne,_ she steeled her emotions and wiped her eyes as the bus came to a stop upon Grimmauld Place,  _and I am a fucking survivor._  

* * *

A/N

Okay, so I understand the description of the MacQuayne bracelet wasn't the best and I'm the worst drawer you'll ever meet, so I just did a general outline of the shape of the bracelet/glove, you can imagine the decorations/jewels however you please. Also, the entire thing is metal I was just too lazy to color it in lmao


	8. My Turn

_**My Turn** _

_"I live my life in shackles, but I'm borderline free."_

* * *

As Averick stepped into Grimmauld Place, the entire neighborhood began shifting, as if making room for something else. Her guess was proven correct as number eleven and thirteen were pushed away from one another to make room for another building that appeared between them. Averick watched, stunned, as a worn set of front steps appeared, leading to an equally battered front door. 

 _This is the seat of the 'noble' House of Black,_ she thought scornfully.  _This looks abandoned._

Averick approached the front door and she stood in front of it for a second, debating on knocking on the door. It would be rude to just walk in, but if Averick was now the acting head of the family as Ragnok said, then there should be nobody in there anyways.

_This is my house now._

Averick opened the door and stepped inside. She frowned as she took in the decor of the building - or lack thereof. At one point, the long hallway in front of her must have been a grand entryway, complete with ornate portraits on the wall and ominous objects on display, but now it was gloomy and cobwebby, with the wallpaper peeling off and the carpet worn thin.

"Who are you?" A loud voice of a woman demanded and it took all of Averick's self-control to not jump out of her skin. _What the fuck?_  She turned around to face a portrait of a pretty, middle-aged woman with long dark hair and grey eyes. She looked at the writing beneath the painting:  _Walburga Irma Black (1925-1985)._

 _Talking portraits of dead people,_ Averick thought dryly,  _why does anything surprise me anymore?_

"I  _asked_ who are you?" the woman demanded louder, "And how did you get into our home."

Averick paused, hesitating on what to tell her. "My name is Averick Potter-"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. Fury crossed over the woman's face, "What is a  _filthy_ half-blood doing in my home?" she shrieked, " _Leave!_ You befoul the house of my fathers with your mudblood ancestry! Beg-"

 _This has got to be a fucking joke,_ Averick thought, her anger rising steadily.  _I'm the head of this house and a_ pureblood _through and through, she has no right to speak to me in such a manner._

"I am a  _pureblood,_ you miserable cow!" Averick shouted, this day was tiring enough - she had been scorned, betrayed and lied to, she had no need for the portrait of a  _dead_ woman to degrade her further. "My  _mother_ , the  _mudblood_ you kindly refer to, was born into a pureblood family far more noble and ancient than  _your_ degenerate, mockery of a House. You will  _silence_ yourself or, as the current acting head of this  _household_ , I will  _burn_ your portrait and scorch any  _memory_ of you from this Earth!"

There was clapping behind her and Averick whipped around, her eyes falling upon a handsome man in his mid to late thirties. He slowly smiled, "You may not look it, but you're a Black, for sure," he commented, "I'm assuming Sirius blood-adopted you?"

"You assume correct," Averick spit out, "And you are?"

"My name is Orion Phineas Black, your blood-adopted grandfather, and that  _lovely_ woman is your grandmother, Walburga Irma Black," the man greeted, much more pleasant than his wife. "I apologize on behalf of her, we were under the impression that the... witch that James Potter married was a muggleborn."

"As, apparently, was the rest of the Wizarding World," Averick responded bitterly, realizing she would probably have to go through this more than once when she arrived at Hogwarts.

"How do you know she isn't one, if you don't mind me asking?" Orion questioned, seemingly genuinely curious, but then realization flashed across his face and he smiled. "Ah, the Gringotts Blood Test?" 

"Yes," Averick said, "It revealed many things I had been previously in the dark about."

"Curious," Orion commented offhandedly, watching her with calculating eyes, "What family does your mother descend from, then?"

"The House of MacQuayne," Averick said and the reaction to her words was instantaneous. Orion's eyes widened noticeably and behind her, Walburga drew in a sharp breath. Averick wondered if they know more about the house than the goblins - she's been dying to learn more about her familial ancestry, but primarily the House of MacQuayne, which seems to be a mystery in the British Wizarding World from what Averick understood about Ragnok's explanations.

"The Americans?" Orion asked and Averick nodded her head once. "Interesting..." he trailed off, "It had been thought that the last of the MacQuayne's died off in 1960."

"It had been thought wrong, obviously," Averick said dryly, taking her right hand out of pocket and showing the older man the MacQuayne heirloom. 

"You're certainly more than just the Black heir and Lady MacQuayne," he murmured, "Is that also the Slytherin and Peverell heirship rings?"

"Yes."

Orion laughed, "You are quite the powerful young lady, aren't you?" he said and Averick could practically see his mind racing. "Where have you been all this time?"

Averick grimaced, she knew the question would come but it didn't make her less comfortable with it. "A Catholic muggle orphanage," she said bluntly and Orion's face shifted into an ugly, angry expression.

"What?" he asked dangerously, "Why?" 

"Because Albus Dumbledore thought it  _fit_ , that's why," she hissed, "I only just learned of magic last week and my titles  _today_."

"A Catholic orphanage?" Walburga Black asked, her voice a mixture of confusion and disgust, "For the Black  _heir_? Our niece - your cousin - Narcissa, still lives. You should have been sent to her."

Averick stilled at the words. McGonagall had said that Dumbledore had sent her to the orphanage because he didn't want to  _'overburden'_ her aunt and uncle - because she would  _'take away'_ from Hyacinth's protection. 

Now she learns that she has a  _cousin_ , how much longer will this list of  _wrongs_ done to her get?

"What about that sister of yours - Helga, is it?" Walburga asked, disdainfully and Averick snorted.

 _Helga,_ she thought, amused.

"Hyacinth," Averick corrected, "And she's been having a joyous life with my mother's adopted family." She saw the questioning look on their faces and continued, "Dumbledore thought she should be more protected than I and that basically, I wasn't worth the effort." 

"I want you to tell me exactly what went on in that orphanage," Orion Black said, his voice hard. "As the one that put you there, Dumbledore was responsible for making sure that you were safe throughout your stay there. How many times did he visit you? Did the nuns running the place ever physically or verbally harm you?"

For a moment, Averick just stared at him.  _Holy shit - responsible for keeping me safe?_ she thought and then she started laughing. " _Holy fucking shit_ ," she laughed and she distantly noticed that there were tears running down her face and that only made her laugh harder.

She noted that Orion Black looked helpless within his portrait and Walburga watched with what looked like a hint of concern in her eyes as Averick slid to the floor, clutching her knees to her chest, laughing and crying simultaneously. 

_What a fucking JOKE! A fucking joke, my life is such a FUCKING **JOKE**!_

She didn't know how long it took for her to finally calm down, but as soon as she went silent, Orion spoke up dryly, "I'm guessing that they did more than just harm you?"

He didn't sound as if he pitied her.

That made Averick happy.

Neither commented on her mental breakdown.

That made her even happier.

Averick let out a choked laugh, "Yeah," she said, "That's one way of putting it. Do you wanna list or something because it will probably take the rest of the summer to complete?"

"Give me a vague list now, I'll see what I can do with it," Orion said, "Our family has the best lawyers in our pockets - the best everything, really."

"The Sisters tried to kill me - multiple times - and when they weren't, the other children were. It was Hell. Around fifty kids went "missing" per year - they all died either by starvation, murder, torture or suicide. The Sisters burned the bodies in the crematorium beneath the manor. I was targeted because of my pendant. They believed I was from a Pagan family and then when my magic began surfacing, it got worse."

Walburga let out a loud scoff, "Are muggles so barbaric that they have no means of authority to  _stop_  it?"

Averick gave her a steady look, "No one cares about orphans," she said simply, a phrase that's haunted her since she was five years old - when she realized no one would save her if the Sisters decided she wasn't worth the space. "It doesn't matter now. The Keeper of my vaults at Gringotts realized that my mail was getting intercepted and told me to meet with him today when I met him last week. I've claimed my heirships and my lordship and he suggested that I come here to learn more about pureblood society and politics so I can claim my seats next summer."

Orion didn't speak for a moment, "I see," he finally said, "I'll have Kreacher get in contact with our lawyer. In the meantime, Walburga and I, as well as everyone else, will assist you in becoming the perfect pureblood scion."

* * *

Three weeks passed quickly - too quickly. Before Averick knew what was happening, it was September 1st and she was packing to leave for the train. Luckily, she was not going in alone. 

She found an ally at Hogwarts in the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, a former Headmaster of the school and an ancestor of hers.

Callidora Black all but demanded that she get a new wardrobe because the robes she had bought at Madam Malkin's were ' _subpar, at the very least'_ and Black's wore ' _nothing but the best.'_ So, as she got fit for new robes by Europe's finest tailor, Cygnus Black tested her on the lineage for every single other pureblood and half-blood that they were aware would be attending school at the same time as her.

Walburga and Druella Black took it upon themselves to teach her the simplicities and difficulties of how to be a perfect pureblood lady, be it manners and etiquettes or how to curse the shit out of entitled boys.

Druella, Averick found, was as feminist as a woman in a traditional society could get.

Averick loved her.

She made sure, within the first few days of being in Grimmauld Place, that Kreacher - their House Elf - got rid of every single goddamn mirror in the entire manor. Naturally, everyone was confused as to why, but it was the one question that Averick wouldn't answer. 

She didn't need them thinking that she was crazy.

Now, as she walked down the halls of Grimmauld, Orion and Walburga followed through the portraits, giving her some last advice about the House of Slytherin.

"They may take insult to you being in their house, thinking that you're a Potter - that you're light. If that happens, assert your dominance right away. You are the Heir of Slytherin and should in no way be ostracized by your own house. Slytherins prey on weakness. Show none," Orion advised.

"If they don't say anything about your heritage," Walburga said, "Don't reveal who you are until you absolutely have to."

"I understand," Averick nodded, __they had already told her this three times, "I should get going."

"One last thing," Orion called and Averick looked at him curiously. "I've been meaning to ask you. What do  _you_ want, Averick?" Orion asked her curiously, "What's your desire?"

 _Vengeance,_ Averick thought immediately before she spoke:

“I’m _tired_ of being the one used, hurt, and cast aside. It’s _my_ turn to use. My turn to hurt.”


	9. Home

**_Home_ **

_"bite my tongue, bide my time."_

* * *

Averick stared at the train leaving from Platform 9 and 3/4 in slight disbelief and slight awe.  _The Hogwarts Express. This is really happening._

The amount of people crowding in the station was almost disturbing - children, adults, animals and even some House Elves. Averick never did well with large groups - in the orphanage, whenever they had house meetings, which usually consisted of groups of fifty kids, she would skip. It would get her punishments, depending on the Sister that was running the meeting, but it was worth not being packed into a small room like sardines with sweaty, violent kids.

She supposed that she would have to get used to it, anyways, with her sister being  _famous_ , Averick was bound to get some attention.

 _ **"Too crowded, let's get on the train,"**_ Valac hissed,  _ **"And let me out from under your shirt."**_

Averick snorted but didn't respond. There were too many people around for her to speak Parseltongue, which she learned from Uncle Cygnus was very rare and _very_ dark - the last person that was known to be a parselmouth was the Dark Lord himself. Averick decided very quickly that she wouldn't go broadcasting it to the entire world but Orion suggested that she should, in fact, display her ability in front of the Slytherin's as means to further " _assert her dominance."_

Valac began shifting around under her dress and Averick physically flinched, " _ **Enough,"**_ she hissed quietly, praying that nobody around her noticed. Valac, Averick had come to realize, was a stubborn little shit. When she had been packing to leave, he had refused to get in the trunk and after an hour and half of arguing back and forth, she finally decided to wear a loose dress so he could wrap around her waist.

Averick hurried forward, easily carrying her shrunken suitcase. _Fucking snake,_ she thought angrily,  _pain in my ass._ As she moved forward, she was carelessly unobservant of her surroundings and, thus, didn't notice a boy move in front of her. She bit back a loud curse as her foot got caught behind his and she tripped forward. 

The boy grabbed her arm - her right arm - and stopped her from falling. She looked back at the boy that grabbed her and her eyes widened.

_What are the fucking chances?_

Abraxas Malfoy's silver eyes stared right back at her, "Wait," he said, "You're-"

"Sorry," she said, "I don't know who you are. Thank you for stopping me from falling."

With that, she continued on her way, completely unaware of the fact that he had seen her heirship rings and the MacQuayne heirloom.

* * *

She made it onto the train without any other unfortunate incidences. Luckily, she found an empty compartment with ease. Shutting the door harshly behind her, she dropped her briefcase sized trunk on the ground and let Valac unwrap himself from around her body. 

 _ **"About time,"**_ he hissed,  _ **"It was suffocating in there."**_

 _ **"Whiny little brat,"**_ Averick spat back and Valac bared his fangs at her but she simply knocked his head away.

Averick relaxed in her seat and shut her eyes, breathing in and out. She sat there, meditating for minutes on end. She knew that her temper has gotten more volatile within the past few weeks as she learned more and more about the pathetic excuse for a man called Albus Dumbledore. She needed as much meditation as she could to keep her calm so she didn't set Valac loose on him when she finally laid eyes on the man that destroyed her life.

She hadn't noticed that her doors had shifted open until an ugly looking toad hopped into her compartment. She looked at it, calculatingly and then over at Valac, who looked excited. The toad hadn't noticed the predator yet, who was lying in wait underneath the seat, waiting for Averick's word.

Averick stood up slowly and shut the compartment door, locking it behind her. " _ **Eat**_ ," she told her snake and the toad didn't even react before Valac had swallowed it whole.

Averick snickered as Valac slithered up the seat and curled next to her. As soon as Averick had returned to her state of meditation, there was frantic knocking on the door.

_What the fuck._

Valac let out a hiss of laughter and Averick glared at the snake before rising to her feet and reluctantly opening the compartment door. "Yes?" she asked, her voice cold. She stared down at a girl and a boy, both of which were shorter than her. The girl had bushy hair and brown eyes while the boy had dark hair as well, but a much rounder face.

"Has a toad come in here?" the girl asked, raising her head high and trying to push her way around Averick who held her ground. She had a bossy voice - _entitled_ , Averick didn't like it. Her eyes narrowed. "Neville's lost one."

Averick looked at her for a solid second before turning her impassive eyes on Neville, who cringed back. Looking back at the girl, Averick drawled, "My  _door_ was locked. Please explain to me how you think a toad would have come here."

The girl raised her chin higher and glared, "You don't need to be rude."

"Considering you were the one who attempted to shove past me and into my compartment, I wouldn't call  _myself_ the rude one. Good day," she said and promptly closed the door in their faces. Locking the door, she turned to look at Valac.

Valac let out that hissing laughter of his and Averick couldn't hold back her own, laughing loudly, sitting down on her chair.

_Pity they weren't a minute earlier._

* * *

A few hours of peace passed with Averick eventually changing and falling asleep against the window and Valac keeping guard, despite the door being locked.

The train came to a halt and Averick jerked away, " _ **You need to get in the trunk, now,"**_ she said and Valac let out a hiss of annoyance but finally did as told.

" _ **Wow, you actually listened for once**_ ," she spat and Valac let out a loud hiss, moving to get out of the trunk but she slammed it shut and locked it before he could get out.

Leaving her compartment, she was thankful that she was at the front of the train because the line to get off seemed to go on forever. Averick stepped outside and the door automatically closed behind her.

The line moved fast and sooner, rather than later, Averick found herself standing outside on the platform in what she could only assume was Hogsmeade Village.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Averick turned to look at the man who had spoken, her eyes widened when they fell upon a giant of a man waving a lamp. Averick, with her fellow classmates, followed the man down a steep, narrow path with trees on either side of them. It was eerie, Averick noted, it reminded her of the pathway to get to St. Joseph's from the suburbs. Nobody spoke much, so when a boy began tearfully sniffing, everyone heard.

"Neville, it's alright, we'll find your toad," Averick recognized Hermione's voice and her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the snicker.

_No, you won't._

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," the man called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Averick almost stopped dead in her tracks when she got her first sight of Hogwarts. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

_It's beautiful._

"No more'n four to a boat!" the man called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

Averick got onto the nearest boat, followed by three boys. One boy was tall and lanky, with dark hair, fair skin and pretty blue eyes. The one closest to her had flawless dark skin and green eyes and the one furthest from her had dirty blonde hair, tan skin and blue eyes.

"Hey," the blonde boy said, moving towards her and accidentally making the boat rock. Averick's eyes widened in alarm as she nearly tilted off the side, but luckily, the tall dark haired boy grabbed her arm before she could.

"Nice going, Rosier," the dark-haired boy drawled, "Why don't you just push her in while you're at it?"

The boy gave him a dirty look, "How about I push  _you_ in instead, Nott?" he snapped.

The dark-haired boy just smirked at him before turning to Averick, "Theodore Nott," he greeted, "Pleasure to meet you."

" _I'm_ Adonis Rosier," the blonde boy said loudly, "And I am much more pleased to meet you than he is."

Averick gave him a weird look, making the Rosier boy flush slightly, before turning to the dark-skinned boy, who looked thoroughly amused at the two, "Blaise Zabini," he said, taking her left hand and pressing his lips to her knuckles, "Pleasure"

 _Purebloods,_ Averick realized, remember her uncle's words.

_Nott: powerful family - wealthy, strong roots in politics, always births strong wizards and witches. Ally yourself._

_Rosier: Less wealthy, more_   _politically advantageous. If we're going to move against Dumbledore, we'll likely have their support, but secure it by befriending the boy._

_Zabini: foreign, extremely wealthy. Mother is the Black Widow. Don't make enemy._

Just as Averick was going to introduce herself, the giant-man began speaking.

"Everyone in?" he shouted, having a boat to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Draco's going to be pissed when he realizes we ditched him," Blaise noted off-handedly, looking pleased.

"Malfoy?" Averick asked, looking over at them, trying to make some sort of conversation to befriend them with.

Theodore Nott looked over at her, slightly confused, "Yes," he said, "How do you know him?"

"Met him in Diagon," Averick said simply and Adonis Rosier nearly knocked the boat over again as he shot forward.

"Merlin,  _you're_ Avery!" he gasped, "Holy shit, what are the chances? Abraxas and Draco have been going on about you for  _weeks._ "

Averick gave him a steady look, deciding that she did  _not,_ in fact, want to talk to them. Without saying anything, she turned away, looking back towards the castle and Theodore and Blaise both laughed at the boy.

"Heads down!" yelled the man as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

They clambered up a passageway in the rock after the man's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?"

He raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

* * *

Entering the Great Hall was just as much a shock to her system as seeing Hogwarts from the inside. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall, who she recognized from Grandfather Orion and Uncle Cygnus's discussions, led the first years up here so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Averick looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. 

 _This is beautiful,_ she thought again,  _home._

A pointed hat, the Sorting Hat, was placed on a stool and Professor McGonagall began calling out names. Averick listened for those that her family told her to watch out for:  _Avery, Landon; Greengrass, Daphne; Malfoy, Draco; Mulciber, Hugh; Nott, Theodore; Parkinson, Pansy._

Averick's head drew up as Pansy went, she was soon - if not next.

"Avery," she heard someone whisper. Turning to the right, her eyes fell upon the startling green ones of Hyacinth. "I almost didn't recognize you," the girl grinned, "Better see you in Gryffindor whenever you go up. I know that's where I'll go. Both of my parents were there, Gryffindor's the only house worth anyone's time."

Averick nearly sneered but caught herself just in time. She gave a cold smile, "We'll see," she said, just as McGonagall called her name.

"Potter, Averick!"

She watched as Hyacinth drew back, eyes wide. Averick made her way to the stool, ignoring the loud whispers.

" _Potter has a twin?"_

_"There were rumors that she was killed when You-Know-Who attacked them."_

_"They were obviously wrong, then."_

Averick sat down on the stool, feeling the Hat be placed onto her head.

" _Oh my, oh my,"_ the Hat chuckled in her mind,  _"I don't think there's any question to where you're going, Miss Potter. First in your family, of course, but there's always a first for everything. You'll do well in SLYTHERIN!"_

Once again, the hall was drowned in whispers. 

"Slytherin!" Hyacinth demanded loudly, drawing attention to herself as she glared at Averick.

 _Oh, definitely a Gryffindor,_ Averick thought amused, not bothering to look back as she made her way to her table.

"You are a  _Potter_ ," Hyacinth continued, "Potters aren't Slytherin, they aren't evil."

Averick stopped dead in her tracks. She debated, for a moment, whether she should even say anything - if it would be better if she kept her past to herself, but the moment was too good to pass up. 

She'd throw Dumbledore's past mistakes right into his face.

She'd destroy him if it was the last thing she ever did.

_Plant the seeds of doubt._

She turned her head slightly to the side, looking at her from the corner of her eye, "I stopped being a Potter the day that I was thrown onto the steps of an orphanage in the middle of the night," she said coldly, before continuing to her table.

Chaos erupted in the Great Hall and Averick  _reveled_ in it.

_It's good to be home._

* * *

The havoc went on for five minutes before Dumbledore regained control over the room. Averick drew close to the Slytherin table and moved for a seat away from everyone when her name was called.

"Avery!" She looked up and saw Abraxas Malfoy nodding her over, "Come over here."

Averick hesitated but thought it best to go - she needed friends in this house and she needed them fast. If Grandfather Orion was right, many would not take well to her being from a "Light" family. Glancing once at where Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy were sitting and watching her with calculating eyes, Averick moved over to the empty seat left between Abraxas and a boy she recognized as Orion Black - a second year.

"I see why you didn't want to tell me your last name when we met now," Abraxas said lowly, looking thoroughly pleased, "I never thought I'd see a day where a Potter was Sorted in Slytherin, but I guess there's a first time for everything, right?"

"Yes," she said, thinking of the Sorting Hat's own words, "I guess so."

"I wanted to apologize for bumping into you at Platform 9 and 3/4, you didn't give me much of a chance to apologize when you rushed off, claiming you didn't recognize me," he noted, amused and Averick forced her eye not to twitch in annoyance.

"I was in a rush," she said, perfunctory, "and maybe I didn't recognize you."

Abraxas looked over at her, meeting her eyes, "I doubt that," he murmured, his lips flickering up into a small smirk. He leaned in close, his lips next to her ear, "I did see something interesting, though, on your right arm," he said and Averick drew in a soft, sharp breath. _Shit,_ she thought. Abraxas chuckled, "I haven't told anyone just yet. I do, though, want an explanation. If not now, then later,  _Lady MacQuayne."_

Averick looked at him as he moved back away from her, "We'll see," she said simply, "Depends on how everything plays out."

Abraxas looked slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

Averick looked at him, her lips twisting into a smirk, "You'll see," she said and Abraxas let out a laugh.

"Okay," he finally said, nodding his head. "Let me introduce you to everyone."

Averick looked at him, expectingly and Abraxas nodded to the boy across from him, he was around her age with dark hair and stunning gold eyes - she briefly thought them similar to her own, but her's were much brighter. "Rigel Lestrange," Abraxas said, "Second year, next to him is his twin, Rhesus."

He motioned to Averick's other side, "Orion Black, second year, and his brother, Alphard is right next to him, also second year."

"Kamil Dolohov and next to him is Krios Carrow," Abraxas motioned to the boys on the other side of him, "Third years."

"Aries Travers and Evanus Selwyn, are in fourth year, like me," he pointed to the two at the end of the table. "This is the girl that I met in Knockturn."

Averick was amused as all of them looked over at her in slight disbelief, "What was someone like  _you_ doing at Knockturn?" Kamil Dolohov asked, giving her a dirty look.

Averick looked over at him, expression cold, Abraxas turned to look at him but Averick couldn't quite make out his expression from where she was sitting. "And what,  _exactly_ , is someone like me, Dolohov?" she asked and Dolohov just looked away.

"A first year, obviously," he finally said after a few moments of silence.

Averick didn't respond after that, turning her attention to her plate, looking at the food.

"Are you not hungry?" Rhesus Lestrange asked, looking at her curiously. Averick shook her head.

"No," she said simply, "I'm not."

Her stomach was churning and Averick briefly shut her eyes. She wasn't sick, she knew that. She was nervous for what was to come. She knew that once they got behind closed doors, everything was going to change.


	10. The Slytherin Court

**_The Slytherin Court_ **

_"Someday we may see a woman king."_

* * *

Averick was right - she was always right, even when she didn't want to be. As soon as the Welcoming Feast ended and the Slytherins made their descent back into the basement, the united air she had felt in the Great Hall began dissipating.

The Slytherins all drifted into groups, some looking more irritable than others.

She felt more than one pair of angry eyes on her - she expected it, of course, but she didn't expect the ferocity of it. She knew her parents were part of the "Order of the Phoenix" in the First Wizarding War. She knew they had killed many Death Eaters, some of whose kids were standing in the same area as her - and her sister vanquished their precious Dark Lord.

 _No,_ she thought,  _I wasn't expecting a warm welcome anyways._

Abraxas Malfoy, thankfully, appeared to take her directly under his wing. His steel grip on her upper arm didn't once waver as he kept her close to him.

 _"Don't leave my side,"_ he had said, _"There's more than one person here that wants you dead right now."_

Averick, though, wasn't sure who, exactly, because the sons of all of the Inner Circle Death Eaters were the ones currently walking with her, keeping her away from the rest of the house.

It distinctly felt like the orphanage and Averick didn't like it.

 _This is supposed to be different_ , she thought, feeling more than disappointed.

She wouldn't fight for her life here - not somewhere she was supposed to be safe, not again. 

As they reached the dark corridors of the basement, she gave Abraxas a long look. They weren't friends, she knew that, he knew of at least one of her titles - which was a powerful one at that, as Lady MacQuayne - and he wanted her as an ally for his family.

And they can't be allies if she's dead, obviously, and as far as he knew she had no way of defending herself. She could, of course, the Blacks would never let her go to Hogwarts defenseless, but he didn't need to know that just yet.

Somewhere in the front of the group, one of the prefects opened the hidden door to the common room and all of the students began piling in. Averick's eyes flashed in delight as she caught her first sight of the Slytherin Common Room. It was absolutely  _grand_ looking. Green, regal wallpaper dressing the walls, low burning fireplaces and sleek, mahogany furniture decorated the room, giving it a type of royal air that Averick was entirely unused to.

"There are three rules, here in Slytherin," Averick looked to the front of the room where their Head of House, Professor Snape, stood. There was a cold look on his face as his eyes swept over all of the students, mainly the first years. She thought, briefly, that his eyes had lingered on her but dismissed the thought as soon as he continued speaking, "Rule number one - if you intend to _break_ a rule, do not get caught. Our House has enough stigma against us, we don't need you adding more to it. Rule number two - always travel in groups of two or more. With the stigma, comes very prejudiced older students from other houses, specifically the Gryffindors who have no qualms against teaming up against a First Year Slytherin. For everyone Third Year and younger, an older student will always be walking with you to classes. Rule number three - if you have a problem with someone in the House, you take it up within the common room. A united front must be presented once we leave these walls or we'll be eaten alive by the other Houses. Any questions, you ask the seventh year prefects, Miss Janice Warthaw and Mister Matthias Yaxley. Understood?"

He didn't wait for anyone to respond as he turned, leaving the room. As soon as he left, people began dispersing to different corners of the common room with their respective groups. Averick let her wand slip into her hand and murmured the password for her trunk and obscurely did the motion. The shopkeeper at the trunk shop had explained to her she didn't have to be in the vicinity of the trunk to open it, if so she pleased because the trunk was keyed specifically to her wand, her touch and her password so as long as she was holding the wand, did the correct wand motions and said the password, the trunk would pop open and, conversely, lock if she wished.

She hoped Valac didn't make a scene coming down. The last thing she needed was people flipping out over a snake, but Averick didn't feel comfortable sitting in a common room with people that hated her without Valac here to help protect her. She didn't entirely trust the group of boys she was sitting with yet and she didn't think she would for a while.

" _ **Are you okay?"**_ Averick forced herself not to jump at the sudden appearance of Valac. He was beneath the sofa that she was sitting on, but Averick could hear him clearly.  _ **"You felt nervous. You've never felt nervous before."**_

Averick couldn't respond, naturally, as Abraxas Malfoy and Rigel Lestrange were sitting on either side of her, talking quietly around her. Averick's attention was drawn to a confrontation a few yards in front of where she was sitting.

 _This can't be good_ , she thought as she watched an older boy, a sixth or seventh year, vehemently arguing with the seventh year prefect, Matthias Yaxley, who seemed more than annoyed. She listened as their voices rose and she noticed that more than half of the Common Room, including the boys she was sitting with, were now watching the rising argument with rapt fascination.

"Phillips," Yaxley hissed, "That's enough."

The boy, Phillips, looked close to figuratively and literally spitting. “A _Potter_ does not belong in Slytherin,” he shouted, the rise in tone gaining the attention of everyone in the Common Room. “She’s as _Light_ as it gets.”

  _I see._

Averick would make them grovel at her feet before she’d go one more second being insulted by her _own_ people.

She noticed that everyone was now looking at her, waiting to see what she would do in response. It didn't matter that she was just a first year and he, God knows how many years older. Her age was negligent in comparison to what she was - and she was a Slytherins, and Slytherins get eaten alive if they don't defend themselves properly. 

So before Abraxas could snap anything, which it sure looked like he was about to do, Averick rose to her feet, fury roaring in her veins, “Then think me _not_ a Potter,” she hissed furiously, “but the _Heir_ of the _very house_ you claim _to be a part of.”_

She let her hand slip out of her pocket, revealing her three heirship rings and the lordship heirloom of the House of MacQuayne.

She watched as Phillips went pale, taking a step back, “What-“

Perhaps it was foolish of her to reveal all of her assets so quickly, but she had already had enough. She wouldn’t spend another second being someone else’s _bitch_ and it's not like Grandfather Orion and Uncle Cygnus didn't advise her to do this anyways.

**_“Valac, have your fun.”_ **

Everyone around her stepped backwards - be it because she was a speaker of the language of snakes or Valac himself swept out from where he was residing underneath the couch she had been sitting on. 

He had gotten bigger since the time she had "bought" him and when she "bought' him he was seven feet long and as thick as her forearm. Now, he was bordering on ten feet and was as thick as her thigh, which while wasn't incredibly thick, was still thick in comparison to a normal snake.

Phillips stumbled away, crashing on to the floor as Valac drew close. Averick's eyes drew upon a dark stain on the front of his pants as Valac slithered right over his legs.

 _ **"Pathetic boy,"**_ Valac hissed,  _ **"Allow me to finish him. He does not deserve to be one of you."**_

“You claim so _arrogantly_ that I’m not a _true_ Slytherin while you’re the one that can’t even face the symbol of our house without _wetting_ yourself,” Averick spat, ignoring Valac's words for the moment, “I should let Valac have his way with you, you’re a pathetic excuse of a Slytherin.”

"Please," Phillips pleaded, his watery, wide eyes not drawing from Valac's moving body.

Averick sneered at him before turning to look at the rest of the wide-eyed students, "The next time  _any_ of you  _ever_ attempt to dismiss me as  _Light_ or  _weak_ , it'll be the last thing you do," she said, her voice sharp and cold.

" _ **Valac, bring me to my room. Leave the boy to grovel in his own piss,"**_ Averick spat and Valac let out a hiss of laughter before slithering right over the boy's body and making his way towards the stairs, Averick following right behind.

She knew that this wouldn't be the last of situations such as these, but hoped that for now, at least, she halted the worst of them.

* * *

Averick didn't speak to anyone for the rest of the night. When the rest of the first year girl's came up, she promptly shut her curtains and cast the silencing spell so they couldn't hear her talk to Valac - not that they'd be able to understand them, of course, but she didn't want them lingering outside of her curtains just to hear the language of snakes, which - as Orion explained - was nigh-sacred within Slytherin House.

She was up early in the morning, or so she thought. She had woken up an hour before breakfast and yet by the time that she got downstairs, nearly everyone was hovering in the Common Room, only a few hushed whispers which immediately silenced as soon as she made her appearance on the steps.

 _What the fuck?_ she thought, annoyed, looking around only to find just about everyone was looking at her, "What the  _fuck_ are you looking at?' she snapped so loudly that just about everyone in the Common Room turned away and made conversation with whoever happened to be next to them.

Just about everyone.

Abraxas Malfoy's eyes didn't leave hers and subtly, he nodded her over to where he was standing by the fireplace alone, the rest of his posse of boys sitting on the couches talking loudly.

Averick made her way over to him, trying not to notice how, quite literally, anyone and everyone who was in her direct path moved right out of her way. Abraxas's lips twitched up into a small smile when she drew close to him, "I knew," he began, "there was a good reason that I took a liking to you."

Averick raised an eyebrow, leaning against the wall next to him, "Are you going to explain to me why everyone's been looking at me so weirdly or am I going to have to figure it out for myself?" she asked him, cutting straight to the chase.

Abraxas's grin widened, "Honestly, it's incredible, isn't it?" he murmured quietly, "I figured you would take control, but not so quickly - or easily."

Averick's gaze cut towards him, her heart beating a little faster -  _is he right? Did I already succeed? What the fuck am I supposed to do now?_ "Explain," she said sharply, "Now. I'm hungry."

"Yesterday, you all but overthrew the current Court of Slytherin. Over the past year, it had already been weakening because Rhesus, Alphard and I were unforgivingly challenging it every chance we got - unfortunately, Phillips had a couple of mainland big-shots on his side and I was only a third year and Alphard and Rhesus were only first years and couldn't quite match up to the mainland families back Phillips," Abraxas explained and Averick's eyes flashed with realization.

Averick knew all too well about the intricacies of the elusive Slytherin Court - Grandfather Orion, Grandmother Walburga and Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella had all been a part of the last one. They had all explained that her main goal should be to start her own and start small, with a group of people she knew she could trust.

 _Too late_ , she thought, realizing she already met all of the requirements to make a Court of her own: she had taken down the previous Court, was politically the most powerful figure in Slytherin, and to top it all off, she was  _Slytherin's Heir_ in the flesh. 

There would be no challenging her.

"That's why you got so attached to me," she accused and Abraxas laughed, shamelessly nodding along.

"I didn't even know about the Peverell, Slytherin and Black heirships," he admitted, "I just saw the MacQuayne heirloom and knew to jump at it. The MacQuayne's were- _are_ very,  _very_ powerful. You would have had the weight to bring us above Phillips and his gang and then we would have taken over."

"And now?" Averick asked curiously, she needed to know what he would decide. A Slytherin's desire for power is a difficult thing to quell - if Abraxas intended on going against her now, it would be a mistake on his part and an annoyance on her own.

She needed to choose her Court and fast. If she had no backbone of defense, her rule would crumble as quickly as it had begun. She would need one of the Lestranges and one of the Blacks, Abraxas if he decided to bend the knee and if not Abraxas than Draco, she'd need Theodore Nott, Adonis Rosier and possibly Zabini. Dolohov would do well, too, and Avery would be a good addition as well.

But first, she needed to start small:  _a Lestrange, a Black, Rosier, Nott and hopefully, Abraxas._

Abraxas lips pulled up into a mysterious smile before he gently took her hand and bowed down over it, pressing his lips to her knuckles, he looked up at her, his eyes flashing with excitement and delight, "It would be my pleasure to serve the Heiress of House Slytherin, _Lady_   _MacQuayne_."

* * *

Severus Snape saw the change within his house immediately. As soon as Davis Phillips walked into the Great Hall with his little posse and sat at the far end of the Slytherin Table rather than the middle where the reigning Court resided... his heart stuttered in his chest. Phillips had been reigning king of Slytherin for nearly two years - for such a dramatic change to have happened in the span of one night... _what the hell had happened in the Common Room after he left?_

Looking to either side of him, he noticed that Aurora Sinistra and Filius Flitwick were watching the table with wide eyes. The Slytherins all filed in at once after Phillips and his posse. A few of the first years took the seats next to them and then the second years, the third years and the fourth years. After the fourth years, there was a large, empty gap and then the fifth, sixth and seventh years took their seats, with the seventh years closest to the Head Table.

After the seventh years came in, there was a pause in which no one followed. Severus tried to take note of who was missing of his snakes:  _both Malfoys, the Lestranges, the Blacks, Dolohov, Rosier, Zabini, Nott, Avery, Mulciber, Travers, Parkinson, Greengrass, Carrow, Selwyn and..._

_Potter._

Severus gritted his teeth, something must have happened, he knew. All of the children of the Inner Circle Death Eaters were missing and Averick Potter was nowhere to be found. Severus  _swore_ by Merlin that if they had already done something to hurt the girl that there would be hell to pay. He was no fan of Potter, for sure, but everyone would know what had happened to the girl and there would be even more reason to attack the rest of their house.

To his disbelief, Averick Potter herself strode into the Great Hall next, with Abraxas Malfoy and Rhesus Lestrange right by her side. They were talking quietly - too quietly for anyone to overhear, and behind them was the rest of the "missing" students who obviously weren't as missing as Severus had led himself to believe.

He forced himself not to gawk as Averick Potter took the seat of the former King - the middle of the Slytherin table facing out to the rest of the tables - with Abraxas Malfoy and Rhesus Lestrange taking the seats directly on either side of her. Across from her, Theodore Nott sat and on either side of him, the Black twins - on either side of the Black twins sat Rosier and Dolohov. Rigel Lestrange sat next to his brother and Draco sat next to his, and the rest of the Slytherins filed in after them, taking their, obviously, specific seats.

Severus knew much about the Slytherin hierarchy, having been in Slytherin himself. It was an ever-changing, fluid caste in which any one group could usurp another if the reigning group made even the slightest mistake. 

Severus had been sure that Phillips' court had been well on its way to an established court considering who his allies had been but he had been clearly, very wrong if Averick  _Potter_ had managed to usurp him in one night. 

 _What did that girl have up her sleeve that brought the entire House of Slytherin to its knees so quickly?_ he thought calculatingly. He had no doubt that Abraxas Malfoy had something to do with it, the boy had been fighting for the top against Phillips tooth and nail for the past four years but there had to have been _something_ else. 

He, quite obviously, wasn't the only one who had taken care to notice the change, besides Sinistra and Flitwick, at the middle of the table, Dumbledore watched the sudden change with concern in his eyes - not that Severus could blame him, of course, Dumbledore had told him stories of the last true King of Slytherin with an established court - handsome, charismatic,  _dangerous_ and all but unstoppable.

He became the world's most feared Dark Lord and every member from his Court became the first of his Inner Circle.

 _Averick Potter is the Queen of Slytherin - with an established court,_ Severus thought in disbelief and then looked at who occupied the seat of the consort, _and she had named Theodore Nott her King-Consort._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I made a Spotify playlist for Averick! You should check it out :D
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/cj7lviq4hno9j2bbnl6nnd7pm/playlist/7bZ2wBdLW8XOXi8MwGt8Y3?si=c_81BtwSSnKYKEZa3o0SNw


	11. Consort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I'm using for the timetable - all credits go to its creator
> 
> http://www.muridae.co.uk/after_survivor/mastertimetable.pdf

_**Consort**_

_"I joined the club and it's all on. There are fights for being my best friend."_

* * *

"Why me?"

Averick turned, raising an eyebrow as Theodore Nott caught up to her, slightly out of breath. She had decided it was time to go to potions and the first years promptly had gotten up to follow. Averick walked with Matthias Yaxley, their escort, at the front of their little herd. She gave Theodore a long look before motioning Matthias to continue on, falling to the back of the group with Theodore.

"Why?" Averick asked simply, looking him in the eye and Theodore shrugged, his face going a little pink as her gaze didn't leave his. Averick nearly smiled,  _how adorable._

"I would have thought you'd pick Abraxas Malfoy," he said, "He has a higher standing in our House right now-"

"No," Averick said, " _You_ have a higher standing in our House right now," she corrected. Ever since she had named him King-Consort, he became second in power to only Averick, herself, in the House of Slytherin. An attack against him would be a direct attack against Averick.

Which was good as suicide, when taking in consideration the rest of her Court, which consisted of just about every single respectable family left in the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

"I still don't understand why you chose me," Theodore snapped, "Are you going to explain or are you going to keep me guessing?"

Averick gave him a sharp look and Theodore stiffened, but then she smiled, wagging her finger, "Because I like you," she said and Theodore looked at her, confused, and then Averick smirked, "The only three families I considered taking as Consort were the Notts, the Lestranges and the Malfoys. Me taking one of the Blacks would be weird since they're technically my cousins and I'm the heir apparent of the family and I already have almost absolute control over the Lestranges and the Malfoys as the Acting Head of the House of Black - both Bellatrix and Narcissa are under my jurisdiction. That left you, the only Nott heir, as my only option."

Theodore rolled his eyes, "Wow," he said dryly, "Makes me feel great."

Averick laughed - genuinely, which honestly surprised her - "Between you and me," she winked and Theodore went red, "I'm glad you were the only option."

Theodore looked away from her immediately and Averick snickered, the one thing she loved more than terrorizing people was making them uncomfortable. She paused as the thought passed through her head - terrorizing people and making people uncomfortable probably fell into the same category.

"How are you so sure that the Malfoys and Lestranges will stay down?" Theodore asked her curiously, "Abraxas has been aiming for King for years."

Averick just smirked, "Because if they don't," she began, looking at Theodore, "I'll disown them from the Black Family and annul their parents' marriages - all but destroying their family and wealth."

Theodore choked, "Bloody hell, woman, you're ruthless," he said, wide-eyed and Averick just snorted.

"Are you just realizing that now?" Averick drawled, following Theodore into the potions classroom.

They soon realized that they were the last two to class, despite being ten minutes early.

"I'd have thought the Gryffindors would have been late," Theodore said, not quietly, smirking in amusement when all of the Gryffindors shot him nasty looks.

Averick looked around in displeasure, noting that the only open seats were beside that annoying bushy haired girl from the train and the sniveling coward that lost his toad. Averick and Theodore shared a look before Averick stalked over to where the boy was sitting. He was staring down at his desk and didn't realize she was standing over him until her shadow covered his paper.

He looked up wide-eyed and Averick raised an eyebrow, "Get up and go sit with the whinging little bitch that barged into my compartment on the train for you," she said coldly and she watched as the boy physically flinched at her words. Behind her, Theodore snorted in amusement.

"Neville doesn't have to do a thing you say,  _snake,_ " she heard a male voice snap and Averick turned around raising her eyebrows only to face a red-haired, red-faced menace.

Next to her Theodore sneered, "Down, Weasley," he hissed.

"Make me," Weasley spat and Averick slowly smiled.

"Is that an invitation?" she asked coolly, looking him up and down briefly. Weasley's face dropped into a darker shade of red as his hands slammed against the desk.

"How about you and your little boyfriend go find somewhere else to sit, Averick?" Hyacinth suddenly snapped, finally looking over at the confrontation.

Averick's face darkened as her  _precious_ sister finally spoke up, "Well perhaps if you had two working eyes,  _sister_ , you would see that there  _are_ no other seats and I don't intend on sitting next to your cowardly lion," she said lowly.

"I'm not-" the boy, Neville, began but cut himself off, drawing back as Averick turned and glared heavily at him. At once, he rose from his seat, grabbing his supplies and rushing to the desk at which the Gryffindor bitch was sitting at.

Averick scoffed and took a seat, Theodore following after her. "The Gryffindors won't back down, you know?" he murmured, "They're all furious, they're going to try and hit back hard."

"I know," Averick said simply, "I look forward to it."

* * *

Snape arrived in class not long after the end of the confrontation. Averick watched as he made his way to the front of the room, starting class by taking the roll call. He paused for a moment on Averick's name, his gaze flickering over her before continuing onto her sister.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Hyacinth Potter. Our new -- celebrity."

Draco and his two goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, began snickering but one look from Averick shut all three of them up. She turned her head back to the front of the classroom not before murmuring to Theodore, "Why is it that they act so much like Gryffindors at times?"

Theodore snickered lightly, leaning in to say, "Draco will have a heart attack if you ever say that to him," he whispered, looking thoroughly amused.

Snape finished calling names and looked up to the class. 　

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort, Averick had realized that night during the "welcoming" into Slytherin. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Averick watched him in rapt fascination, potions - ever since her grandfather had begun teaching what he could to her - had always been one of her most favored subjects, second only to curses and hexes.

"Potter!" Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"I don't know, sir," Hyacinth said at the same time as Averick said:

"The Draught of Living Death, sir."

Snape looked between the two of them before his calculating eyes fell on Averick. He nodded once, "At least one of you read over the text before class," he sneered, looking at Hyacinth, "Three points to Slytherin."

"Let's try again, Potter - Hyacinth, that is - where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" he asked, ignoring how the Gryffindor girl from the train stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving the seat.

Averick smirked and next to her, Theodore snickered.

"I don't know, sir," Hyacinth said, her teeth gritted together and her face flushing.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape jabbed, "What is the difference, Potter, between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

Averick's smirk widened into a cruel grin. She knew deep,  _deep_  down that her hate towards Hyacinth was unjustified, that it wasn't  _her_ fault that she was put into an orphanage, but she couldn't quell the churning anger and jealousy.

"Look at the mudblood bitch," Theodore murmured, leaning in again so that his lips were nearly touching her ear so that Snape couldn't hear them speaking. She looked over to where Hermione was literally standing up, her hand stretching towards the dungeon ceiling and sneered. "Snape's going to tear her to shreds."

"I don't know," Hyacinth snapped. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"

A few of the Gryffindors laughed and Averick's eyes darkened.

"Would anyone else like to answer the questions?" Snape asked the class, once again ignoring Hermione and looking over to the Slytherins. Averick's lips twisted up and she raised her hand, "Miss Potter," Snape allowed, and Averick spoke.

"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat. Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant, aconite," she recited and Snape nodded.

"Six points to Slytherin," Snape said. "And Potter, one point from Gryffindor for your cheek. Granger, one point for your impudence."

Sick joy piled up in Averick's stomach as Granger's expression turned distraught and offended.

They were all paired up and set to mixing a potion to cure boils. Averick, thankfully, was placed with Theodore anyways and the two began talking as they set to weighing dried nettles and crushing snake fangs.

"Good, so far," Snape commented as he passed by their cauldron and Averick nodded in thanks before returning to her conversation with Theodore.

"Phillips' Court isn't going to stay down for long," Theodore told her as he stirred their cauldron, looking back at her, "They'll need to be handled. They're from powerful mainland families."

"So I've heard," she murmured before her eyes flickered up to meet Theodore's pretty blue ones, "Tell me, Theodore Nott, what would  _you_ do in my position?" she asked curiously.

Despite having made Theodore her Consort, she had yet to understand the way his mind worked. He was derisive and cruel, for sure, but she could tell that from the boats and how he treated Adonis Rosier. What she needed to know was how he strategized and, should she ever be indisposed, if she could trust him to make the right move.

"Claudio Demirez needs to be taken down," Theodore finally said after a moment's thought, "In such a way that he could never regain the strength to challenge you again. His family holds a lot of political power and wealth - he could be dangerous to your reign. If I were you, I'd send Dolohov after him - he's brutal and dangerous and could beat most sixth and seventh years in fair duels, which this most certainly would not be."

Averick's smile widened at his words -  _great minds do think alike_ , she thought, her eyes flashing with delight.  _Already handled in nearly the exact way he had described._

"I knew there was a good reason I chose you as my Consort."

* * *

"What do we have next?" Adonis asked as he caught up to Theodore and Averick, who were walking at the front of the group a few feet away from their escort of the hour - Aries Travers.

"You don't know what class you have, Rosier?" Aries snorted, looking over at the group of three and Adonis flushed, embarrassed.

"I didn't have time to check," he whined, all but shoving Aries Travers who just snorted, "And I figured that Theo and Avery would know."

Averick gave him a long look that made Adonis wince, "We have History of Magic," she finally said, "with the Ravenclaws."

Adonis deflated, "Oh Merlin that's going to be so boring," he complained, "I'd rather die."

Averick rolled her eyes, "Quit whining," she told him and Adonis sighed, frowning and looking away petulantly. Averick stared at the sulking boy in disbelief, "You are such a  _child_."

"I am  _not,"_ Adonis argued, looking at her with wide-eyes, "I'm  _not."_

"Yeah," Averick said, "Okay."

"Ave _ric_ _k,_ " Adonis drew out her name as Averick continued walking with Theodore. She shot the boy a look of disbelief but he only looked amused.

" _Hey!"_  

Next to them, Aries's eyes shot open and instinctually, he stepped in front of Theodore and Averick and motioned the rest of the first years to get behind him.

Averick's eyes fell upon three Gryffindor upperclassmen, all of which had their wands. "Get out of the way, Travers," one of them said lowly, "We just want a word with your  _Potter._ "

"Unfortunately," Aries drawled, "That isn't going to happen. Keep on moving, Morrison."

The boy, Morrison, all but sneered, "You scared, Travers?"

Aries's eyes darkened, "Not even slightly," he said lowly, glancing back at the first years, "Go to class. I'll see you guys later."

Most of the group began walking away but Averick lingered, Theodore not far away from her. Aries looked at her carefully and Averick simply nodded once.

 _Do what you will,_ she thought and Aries, as if he could hear her thoughts, smiled slowly before turning back to the Gryffindors. 

"Let's go," Averick told Theodore and the two began walking away.

Curses were flying before they even turned the corner.

* * *

After class, Averick and her fellow first years made their descent back into the dungeons to their Common Room. No one had come to pick them up from class which made Averick worried that something bad had happened - Evanus Selwyn was to meet them, the only reason he wouldn't have shown up was if...

 _Aries,_ Averick thought, her eyes widening briefly before she quickened her pace. As they approached the Common Room door, Averick simply hissed, " _ **Open**_ ," and the door swung open immediately. She had learned earlier in the day that she needn't even remember the password due to the fact that she was a Parselmouth, she could simply order the door to open.

As soon as she stepped into the Common Room, her eyes were drawn to where Aries was laying on the couch, his arm clearly shattered and his face bruised and bloody.

Noticing that she was looking at him, Aries let out a laugh, only to start coughing up blood, "You should see the other guys," he muttered and Averick stalked over to him.

"Giving you  _permission_ to duel them didn't mean get the shit kicked out of you," Averick hissed, "What were you thinking? You should have left if they got the upper hand."

" _I_ had the upper hand until one of their friends came up behind me," Aries told her, wincing as he shifted to look her in the eyes, "Fucking Lewis Freeman came out of nowhere. I didn't even get a chance to defend myself."

Averick's mind was whirring as she processed everything he said.  _Coward_ , she thought scathingly,  _fucking cowards, all of them. If Gryffindors are supposed to be brave then they should face people head on rather than from behind._

Her eyes fell upon Aries's all but broken body and the raging fury that swept through her body chilled. "What state did you leave them in?" she asked, her voice calm.

Aries swallowed before speaking, "I got the upper hand after a bit," he said, "I obliviated them - made them think that they dueled each other and fled the area. They weren't in good shape - especially, Freeman."

"You sure that you obliviated them correctly?" Averick asked him, a plan already forming in her head.

Aries nodded once, "The Travers family blood trait is strength in the mind magics. I've been able to obliviate and place false memories without any type of suspicion since I was nine years old."

 _That'll come in handy,_ Averick thought, her eyes briefly widening. Blood traits were a handy thing in pureblood lines, and one of the main reasons for the stigma against muggleborns - the Blacks were always superb duellers, the Slytherins could perform Parselmagic, the Peverells had a penchant for necromancy and soul magic, and she had no idea what the MacQuayne family's was. As far as she knew, the Malfoy's were born natural occlumens and the Lestranges, legilimens.

Averick nodded slowly, "Okay," she said, "I'll handle it."

_They'll pay in blood for what they did. I protect my own._

* * *

The next morning, Dumbledore announced the tragic death of seventh year Gryffindor, Lewis Freeman, who had, unfortunately, died in his sleep after a friendly duel gone wrong between friends. Classes were canceled and there would be a memorial service for him later in the evening.

Averick, naturally, would not be attending.


	12. Winter Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to reiterate what I wrote in the author's note of the introduction. If you would like to criticize my work, be my guest, but be constructive. I don't take kindly to people straight up bashing my work. 
> 
> Also, please take care to know what you're talking about before you comment. I don't mind questions about my work at all, but if you're questioning and assuming something even though it's blatantly stated in the work, and then you proceed on being rude about it despite it being because you've misread something, I won't be pleased.
> 
> This is not directed towards anyone. Just a reminder because I'm sure people skipped past it the first time.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> ROSIERS
> 
> ON ANOTHER NOTE - Time skip to winter break because everything that happens in between is just unnecessary to write a million chapters about and I'm trying to introduce Tom ASAP - all time skip chapters will be extra long for u guys tho

  _ **Winter Break**_

 _"I never watch the stars, there's so much down here."_  

* * *

For Averick, at least, the weeks - and then months - began flying past. There were at least three confrontations per week between the Gryffindors and Slytherins and they only got worse once Averick let the Slytherins off of their figurative leashes. She had previously forbidden any instigation of conflict by the Slytherins and when one of the fifth years decided to disregard her words, she made quite the example out of him.

She feared that she'd have another situation like the one with Aries Travers and the Gryffindors, which wasn't her intention. She knew that the attack itself had been her fault - Theodore certainly hadn't been lying when she said the Gryffindors would strike back hard.

She wouldn't -  _couldn't_ \- have another situation like that. She knew that things were different here compared to the orphanage, she wouldn't be able to get away with the shit she had pulled back there. She was only able to with Freeman by chance.

Then, in response to the lack of retaliation from the Slytherins, the Gryffindors' attacks on Slytherins multiplied threefold. 

Under the condition that they would  _glamour_ themselves before going in for an attack, Averick released her snakes onto the lions, who would immediately begin to regret forcing her hand.

The month after Lewis Freeman's death had been chaotic, there had been lawsuits against the school by the parents of Freeman and the three boys who had "dueled" with Freeman had been expelled for involuntary manslaughter - Averick was sure to lie low at this point, she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself.

She heard that Dumbledore tried to only get them suspended but the Freemans', who had powerful lawyers, wouldn't settle for anything less than expulsion and even attempted to get the three boys thrown into Azkaban.

Aries's claim about the Travers' blood trait held steadfast, not once did the memory charms falter - even when the boys were put on trial under Veritaserum. 

After Dumbledore had made the initial announcement, she was hounded in the Common Room by her Court, who wanted to know what had happened and how she did it.

Averick denied doing anything, simply claiming that it was a tragic coincidence and that karma was a bitch. It was a lie, obviously, but the fewer people that knew what had happened, the better. The only person she considered, and eventually did tell, was Abraxas and that was because of the Malfoy family blood trait - occlumency.

She didn't need people finding out that she had murdered a boy on her first day of classes.

She was sure not to use magic when killing Freeman, she wasn't sure if Dumbledore would have been able to trace or feel the saturation magic in the room afterward. 

So, she smothered him to death with a pillow.

He wasn't even able to fight back because of the number of potions that he was under, which Averick thought was fitting.  _Aries hadn't been able to fight back either_ , she had thought maliciously as she held the pillow over his face.

When she felt the telltale sign of his body going limp and his chest not rising, she lifted the pillow off of his face and put it back on the bed on the other end of the room that she had taken it from. She wasn't sure if wizards and witches could trace for fingerprints, so she didn't want the pillow anywhere near Freeman's body.

She left the infirmary as quickly and as quietly as she had come.

_Madam Pomfrey should get better locks._

Once Aries had made his recovery, he officially became a part of Averick's inner court, which had previously consisted of Theodore Nott, her Consort; Abraxas Malfoy, her right hand; and Rhesus Lestrange, Adonis Rosier, and Alphard Black.

The natural mind manipulation would come in handy, Averick knew, she wouldn't risk losing a talent such as that.

Abraxas Malfoy quickly became a godsend. His suggestions and ideas were always fruitful and it was why she made him her right hand. Averick knew that her drive for vengeance would sometimes lead her off of the path for what's best for Slytherin and she knew that Abraxas would be there to lead her back onto it while at the same time doing his damned best to avenge her because, in his righteous opinion,  _"no magical child should be forced to endure living with muggles, especially Catholic_  _ones at that."_

She learned, quickly, that many of the purebloods all but despised Christianity as a whole, which isn't surprising when their history with the Church is taken into account - burnings, hangings and drownings aren't exactly the building blocks to a good relationship.

On Halloween, an incident with a troll in the dungeons showed how much Dumbledore  _truly_ cared about the Slytherins - telling them to return to their common room which, of course, was in the dungeons with the supposed troll.

Averick had known before that that the Slytherins were on their own in this school, but this just solidified that belief. Luckily Snape had, instead, told the prefects to bring them to the library for them to do work while the troll was being handled. 

It was at that moment that she vowed to be a better leader for the Slytherins, as well, because Merlin knows that no one else would look out for them except themselves.

She had also, in that time, come to a series of realizations about her actions - especially when _Theodore_ had been attacked by some upstart Gryffindor. Theodore had become her friend - an actual  _friend_ and she knew that it was her actions that led to his injuries. Dolohov had dealt with the Gryffindor while Averick sat with her consort in the infirmary. It distinctly reminded her of the time that James Maddox was hospitalized and her first, and only, concern at that moment had been his safety, rather than vengeance. Theodore was becoming the James of Hogwarts.

She realized that she was turning Hogwarts into the orphanage - turning it into the hell that she had only barely escaped out of alive. _She_ was the one that was advocating the eye-for-an-eye, survival-of-the-fittest concept, the very same one that had plagued the orphanage, in her new home.

She was turning into Hogwarts' version of  _Collin Dumont_ and that alone made her shudder with regret and disgust. She had let the power, the control, get to her head - she was embarrassed to admit that even to her self.

It wasn't a mistake she'd make again.

In her defense, of course, it was all she had ever known. Three weeks with the Black portraits weren't going to quell instincts that she had built up and perfected since she was fifteen months old.

So, in light of the realizations, Averick forbade not only instigating attacks, but also physical retaliation. There had been chaos following her decree, many of the Slytherins refused to adhere to the order - even her own Court had been wary when she first announced it, but they backed her, as always, and helped crush the rebellion within their house.

And so the Rules of Slytherin House went as so:

_1\. If you intend to break a school rule, do not get caught._

_2\.  Always travel in groups of two or more._

_3\. If you have a problem in the house, it stays within the house. Present a united front._

_4\. No mirrors._

_5\. There will be no cursing, no hexing, no jinxing and no dueling against other students unless it's in clear self-defense with ample evidence and witnesses._

Rather, they went about retaliation the way Slytherin House should.  _Cunningly._

When Fred and George Weasley viciously pranked Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson, his father had been suspended from his job at the Ministry for abusing his position at the Ministry and taking Ministry-owned muggle artifacts back to his home.

When Dean Thomas hexed Draco Malfoy, a little birdie mentioned to Professor Flitwick that he had been cheating on his tests and he was promptly caught and given three weeks of detention the next time they had a test.

When Alfred Donahue, a seventh year Gryffindor chaser, began using cheap moves against the Slytherins during their game in November, several days later terrible rumors began circulating about some very...  _personal_ subjects.

Averick found that this type of vengeance was far more satisfying than physical violence and murder which made her rethink her plan against Dumbledore and she finally began to thoroughly map it out. She became a silent power in the House of Slytherin, no longer being the vanguard of Slytherin bullies, which she had, embarrassingly enough, been for nearly a week and a half.

Soon enough, Averick had lost her reputation as cruel and violent and gained one of being respectful and calm. People began to associate her with as the  _good_  part of the Slytherin House, unaware that she was the one that was behind the rumors that were ruining people's lives.

She decided she like being the hidden power, it gave her more pleasure when people would come up and speak to her when she knew damn well that she was in the midst of getting their father fired from his job or causing their parents to divorce.

There were some, of course, that didn't fall for the act - Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, they all watched her with suspicion, not forgetting what she had been like at the beginning of the year. 

It didn't matter - it wasn't them that she had to fool.

Before she knew it, winter break was upon them and Averick was at the top of every single one of her classes with Granger and Theodore not far behind. She'd have to do a lot more work to shut Granger out of the running for first in their year. The girl, despite all of her outrageous faults, was incredibly intelligent and if she weren't so god _damn_ annoying, Averick would even consider trying to recruit her into their little group, muggleborn or not.

 _What a waste of talent,_  Averick had thought, disappointed.

"You ready?" Theodore asked her as he came down the steps of the boy's dorms, meeting her at the bottom. She nodded, lifting her trunk - which was the size of a briefcase and as light as a feather due to the charms placed on it.

Valac was once again wrapped around her waist, there was nothing he hated more than the suitcase - not that she blamed him, she didn't do well in enclosed, dark spaces either.

"Yes," Averick said, looking over at the boy. "Let's get to the Great Hall."

* * *

Voldemort felt the girl enter the Great Hall. Taking control over Quirrell's mind, he glamoured his eyes, which he knew would turn red as soon as he took over. His eyes were immediately drawn to young Averick Potter who was sitting at the Slytherin table, surrounded by the children and grandchildren of all of his most loyal followers.

Even he didn't know how she did it - taken control over Slytherin as quickly as she did, that is. He had been as surprised as anyone on the first day of classes when the Slytherins filed in and made room for a new regime - one lead by Averick  _Potter_ , sister of the supposed " _Girl-Who-Lived."_

When he had learned that Albus Dumbledore had chosen the  _wrong_ infant as the one of prophecy, Voldemort had nearly let out the first genuine laugh in over fifty years. 

He couldn't wait to shove it in Dumbledore's face that he had lauded the wrong child and scorned the right one for nearly ten years. When he had first learned of the circumstances over Averick Potter's childhood, he was uncomfortably reminded of his own past in Wool's Orphanage. McGonagall, who had brought the child into the Wizarding World, said the girl had said some disturbing things about her time there, but Dumbledore dismissed it as the imagination of a child.

It had taken all of his self-control to not slaughter the man where he stood. He had heard those words all too much in his own childhood when he all but begged to stay in Hogwarts during the summer because he feared for his  _life_ in muggle London.

Voldemort, of all people, knew that the girl's claims weren't folly. His own orphanage had been hell on Earth and Matron Cole would constantly tell the orphans that they were better off here than at the orphanages run by the Sisters of Mercy who were cruel and ruthless, in contrast to their name, and he's quite sure they were the ones that ran the orphanage Averick Potter resided in.

He wondered, then, why she decided to go back for Winter Break. There wasn't a single year that Voldemort went back to the orphanage more than necessary. 

Unless, of course, she intended on staying with a member of her Court, of course. Voldemort shook his head,  _it didn't matter._

His gaze returned to Averick Potter and her group of Slytherins. Averick was leaning halfway into Rhesus Lestrange as she spoke to Rigel, laughing, before drawing back. As if she felt his gaze on her, she turned and looked up at the Head Table, amber eyes meeting masked red ones. Her eyes narrowed in on him but his expression didn't falter as he watched her unblinkingly.

The girl had changed much over the past few months and he wasn't sure as to what was the exact reason for the unexpected change in personality.

The first few days of her rule over Slytherin had been all but a tyranny with her at the forefront of the sudden Slytherin brutality to the other houses - more specifically, the Gryffindors - and Voldemort had been less than impressed with the girl.

Then, sometime later, Averick Potter underwent a crucial change in nature that sent her from being the face of Slytherin cruelty to becoming an undeniably threatening power that lurked in the shadows of the House of Slytherin - the puppet master that never revealed that she was the master.

Averick Potter's current stance made her a dangerous,  _dangerou_ _s_ enemy to those who she considered so - if only because no one knew what she wanted and what she was planning. A wise man once told Voldemort that  _"A man with no motive is a man no one suspects. Always keep your foes confused: if they don’t know who you are or what you want, they can’t know what you plan to do next."_

Averick, despite never hearing this words, appeared to be taking them to heart with her personality flip and sudden demure, respectful behavior to not only the staff but other students -  _including the Gryffindors._  

He knew that despite her change in apparent personality that she hadn't changed because he knew that the revelations concerning those that do her House wrong were no coincidence but it seemed as if just about all of the staff members sans Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape simply forgot about what a terror she had been at the beginning of the year.

 _You remind me of myself, Miss Potter_ , Voldemort thought, his eyes never leaving her own,  _and that means you're not to be underestimated._

* * *

As Averick made her way to the carriages that would bring them to the train that would bring her back home to 12 Grimmauld Place - back to her family, a voice called out her name loudly.

_"Averick!"_

Next to her, Theodore and Abraxas both stiffened and Theodore gave her a long look.  _Do you want me to handle this?_ He seemed to be asking, but Averick simply shook her head before turning around and facing her twin sister.

"Hyacinth," Averick greeted pleasantly, meeting her stunning green eyes, which for some reason looked nervous. She and Hyacinth hadn't spoken once since their first day of classes when Averick's temper took a hold and she went off on Neville Longbottom. They had exchanged looks, but that was about the extent to their interactions

Hyacinth swallowed once before speaking, "I was just wondering, you know, I mean, I know we don't really like get along but you can come stay with me and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon if you want. I'm-we're still your family and you shouldn't have to stay in the orphanage."

Averick couldn't hold back her surprised expression at Hyacinth's words. The last thing she expected was for her to offer Averick a place in her home. Hyacinth obviously was getting twitchy because Averick wasn't answering, so Averick gave her a small smile, "It sounds nice," she said, "but, unfortunately, Abraxas has already offered me a place to stay for winter break. Perhaps next time?" she offered and Hyacinth, despite looking a little disappointed nodded.

"Yeah," she said, "Next time."

The three Slytherins watched as Hyacinth caught up with Ronald Weasley, who glared at the three of them darkly, and Hermione Granger, who looked disgruntled when she saw who Hyacinth was speaking to.

 _Gryffindors_ , she thought disdainfully.

"I didn't offer you a place at my house," Abraxas noted, amused, "Were you planning to drop in unannounced?"

Averick rolled her eyes, "Don't be stupid," she said, "I'm not staying at her house, I just didn't want to stay with her. I don't know what her game is but I don't intend on playing until I figure it out."

"Maybe she just wanted to be nice?" Theodore offered but Averick just shook her head, her dark expression focusing in on the ground in front of her.

"No," she said, “No one ever gives me their kindness without hoping for something in exchange."

* * *

"I heard the beginning of your reign didn't go too well, Averick," was the first thing she heard when she stepped into Grimmauld Place.

She had expected this, of course, there was no was Phineas wasn't going to go blabbing, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. She felt her face begin to go red. "I let the power go to my head," she admitted, quietly, "It was a mistake."

Orion let out a long sigh, "Disappointing," he said, "but not unexpected."

Averick looked at him, confused, "What are you talking about?" she demanded. If it wasn't  _unexpected_ than why the  _hell_ didn't he warn her against it?

"Don't give me that look. You've been at the bottom of the food chain your whole life and once you had a taste of the top, you were scared any weakness would send you plummeting back down, we expected you to let it get out of control before reining it in - as you did," Orion explained but Averick was stuck on the first part of his comment.

"I wasn't at the bottom," she protested immediately.

"But you certainly weren't at the top, were you?" Orion countered and Averick winced, her mind immediately going to the bloodthirsty, ruthless Sisters with their cruel words and sharp whips - to Collin Dumont and the other older boys that would do whatever they please with whoever they please.

"No," she said quietly, "I wasn't."

Orion nodded, "Exactly," he said firmly, "The truth is, I'm impressed. You've finally turned the House of Slytherin back into what it's supposed to be after over half of a century of turning into mindless brutes like the Gryffindors."

"Over a half a century?" Averick asked curiously, "You're talking about your time in Hogwarts, aren't you? That was also the last true Court."

Orion's eyes glittered with reminiscence of the past, "Yes, it was," he said softly, "The last time that anyone in Slytherin  _truly_  acted Slytherin rather than the mess they've become."

"You never told me, grandfather," Averick asked, curious, "What was his name? The King?"

Orion looked somewhat pained as he spoke, looking up at her, "His name was Tom Riddle," he said, "Though, I'm sure you recognize him by his pseudonym..."

Averick frowned deeply, "Which is?"

"Lord Voldemort."

* * *

Averick spent the next two days learning about the intricacies of the genius, Tom Marvolo Riddle, and his descent into madness as the Dark Lord, Voldemort.  _He could have been great,_ Averick mourned,  _had he not gone mad, that is._

When he was sane, Averick learned, his goals and ideas had been magnificent, which is how he gained the support of so many of the old Pureblood families. He wanted to return magic to where it belonged - to wizards and witches. So much - too much - of magic had been deemed dark and forbidden by the Ministry of Magic; traditions and family rituals that have been passed through ten, twenty,  _thirty_ generations would now send you to Azkaban for performing it; ancient sacred days lost for muggle holidays like  _Christmas_ and  _Easter_ and  _Halloween._

He swore to bring back the old days - when magic was unrestricted and  _beautiful_ \- and then he went mad and he lost sight of his goals, rather than returning magic to wizards and witches he focused on the annihilation of anyone of impure blood.

He didn't bring back the old days, he almost destroyed them by getting over half of the pureblood population murdered and imprisoned.

His original goals had been commendable and if, perhaps, he had gone about it the right way, there wouldn't have been a war - there wouldn't have been any competition at all. 

 _Perhaps_ , Averick thought,  _she could go about it the right way._

" _We trusted him,"_ Orion had said, voice bitter and pained, " _Despite everything that told us not to, we put our faith in him and he destroyed us all."_

Orion's words hit her like a truck.

She wouldn't fail, she vowed, she wouldn't become  _Tom_ _Riddle._

* * *

Four days into break, she got a letter from Lucius Malfoy inviting her to the Malfoy Winter Ball at the end of the week. A letter from Abraxas came moments later telling her that if she didn't show up, he'd drag her there. Former Slytherins wanted to meet the First Year Queen that they had heard  _so_ much about and it would be a perfect chance for her to gain allies outside of Hogwarts.

Callidora Black was ecstatic, cooing and awing as she got fit for her a dress and all but designed one for her. Within two days, the dress was brought to her personally and Averick made sure to be out of the sight of any portrait before putting it on.

She went up to her room and removed her clothes before slipping the dress over her head. _It felt perfect_ , she had noted and she hesitated before calling for Kreacher to bring a mirror into the room.

Looking into the floor length mirror, Averick's heart all but stopped as the woman appeared closer to her - less than five feet, looming behind her.

 _It was at least fifteen feet in Gringotts_ , Averick thought, panicked,  _how did she get so close?_

She had been careful for the past few months to get rid of any mirrors in her vicinity. It was one of her first orders as Queen of Slytherin.  _Get rid of any mirror before I get near it._

Her roommates, of course, hadn't been pleased, but a single look from Averick stilled their protest and they used the second year's bathroom rather than their own, which had been scorched of all mirrors.

Steeling her nerves, she gazed into the mirror and barely recognized herself from the last time she had seen herself. Her strawberry blonde hair had grown longer, waving down her shoulders and past her chest. Her face, which had looked fairly gaunt the last time she noticed, looked healthy. Her cheekbones were prominent, but not unhealthily so anymore and her eyes were the same bright amber as they had always been. 

Her eyes drew down to the gown. Made of Mulberry silk, the silver dress was soft and made of the finest material in the Muggle and Wizarding World. Enchanted, the dress gleamed and shimmered with her every movement, clinging to her body in all of the right places.

Her gaze dropped to the open back, which revealed the many, visible scars left by the whips of the Sisters and she shut her eyes briefly.  _Will I ever not be reminded of that nightmare?_

" _ **You look good,"**_ Valac noted from where he was curled on her bed and Averick smiled softly.

Months ago, she never thought she'd be able to look so beautiful.

* * *

The night of the Malfoy Winter Ball had been enlightening, to say the least. She met the guardians - be it grandfathers, fathers, or family friends - of all of her fellow Slytherins, who were all too intrigued to meet the Slytherin girl who had usurped the two-year reign of Phillips.

She had expected the ball to be a dull night of carefully calculated words and dodging bullets in the form of questions but to her pleasant surprise, she had a genuinely good time discussing current politics with the lords of each family and had views in common with many of them.

Halfway into the night, she had met an interesting man that went by the name of Thomas Anguis, who gave her an odd feeling familiarity but she couldn't quite place from where or who. They spent most of the rest of the night talking about the last war and the Dark Lord. In this particular discussion, she was sure to be cautious with her words but made sure she got her point across: " _The Dark Lord could have been great, but he went mad and destroyed it for himself and his followers, who gave him everything."_

Thomas Anguis had gotten a strange expression on his face at her words but then he nodded, conceding to her point, " _I suppose you're right,_ " he finally said and that was that because Adonis Rosier had hopped right up to her and more or less pulled her away from the conversation so she could hang out with her lovely Court.

Deciding to stay at Malfoy Manor for the night, Abraxas led Averick to one of the guest bedrooms on the second floor, near his and Draco's room. She tossed and turned for hours into the night before she decided to go for a walk around the house, eventually ending up in the Malfoy Family Library.

Which is how she ended up with the diary of one Tom Marvolo Riddle.

* * *

Averick made her way to the back of the library, setting up a few spells that would alert her if someone were to walk in so that she could hide the book and get a new one before they reached where she was sitting. 

There was something odd - almost sentient - about the book that worried her. It wasn't normal, for sure, but there was something compelling about it, something that drew her in like a moth to flame.

That alone made her want to burn it but curiosity got the best of her and she opened the book, intrigued as to what could possibly be in the diary of a young Dark Lord.

The answer to that was  _absolutely nothing._

Flipping through all of the pages, getting more annoyed by the second, Averick let out a hiss of irritation.  _What a waste of time_ , she thought bitterly about to close the notebook until by chance she noticed words suddenly appearing on the first page.

_Wait, don't go._

Averick froze,  _what the fuck?_

_ Please. _

_This can't fucking be normal_ , she thought,  _Orion did not tell me what to do if I encounter a notebook that wrote to me._

_You're going to leave, aren't you?_

Averick swallowed before flicking her wand, " _Accio_  quill and ink," she murmured and from across the room, a quill and ink bottle flew into her hand.

 _How the fuck are you writing to me?_ she wrote, her scrappy handwriting looking quite embarrassing in comparison to the diary's elegant style.

 _I'm trapped in here._ The diary responded and Averick, cautious looked back at the name on the front of the diary and then pointedly at the ' _I.'_

Just to be sure, she asked:  _And you are?_

_Tom Marvolo Riddle, or a memory of him, at least._

Averick slammed the notebook shut and leaned back into the sofa,  _what the fuck?_ she thought again.  _How is a memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle trapped within the diary if he was vanquished years ago? If he became the Dark Lord, Voldemort._

Her mind whirring at a million miles a minute, Averick placed her head in her hands, feeling suddenly very,  _very_ tired.

 _Let's not talk to inanimate objects that can somehow talk back to us_ _and claim to be the very person who murdered our parents_ , Averick thought dryly, placing the diary back on the shelf.

Averick shook her head and made her way back to her room.

 _Time to get some much-needed sleep,_ she thought, the diary never really leaving the back of her mind.

* * *

The morning after the ball, Averick headed back over to 12 Grimmauld Place and she was sure to thoroughly question her grandfather on, hypothetically, what would happen if she encountered a notebook that could write back to her.

Orion did not take the question kindly, demanding to know if, how, and when she encountered such a thing and if she had been stupid enough to write back to it so Averick dutifully explained that yes, she had been stupid enough to answer but had closed it as soon as she had realized what was happening.

Orion, still flustered by the question, explained that there were a few ways that such an object could come into existence and none of them were good, but he'd need to have more information on it to determine what exactly it was.

Information that Averick, unfortunately, didn't have.

She never told him it was the diary of Tom Riddle.

* * *

On January 7th, Averick stood on Platform 9 and 3/4 awaiting the train with her friends and familiar.

She had a terrible, terrible feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IN TWO CHAPTERS WERE GETTING INTO THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF MACQUAYNE, THINGS ARE ALREADY GONNA START GETTING REAL DARK, REAL FAST AND I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED OMFG


	13. Scathach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter's gonna be rough for poor avery :) 
> 
> brace yourself for the REAL beginning of the story
> 
> warning: major character injury - much blood, many pain

  ** _Scathach_**

_"This is where it all begins."_

* * *

Averick seemed to be wrong and she didn't know how to feel about it. She had never been wrong before but the year started out normally and continued on without any disruptions. Slytherin won both, their match against Ravenclaw in the third week in February and their match against Hufflepuff in the first week of May, claiming the Quidditch cup. There were no particularly bad confrontations between the Slytherins and Gryffindors and everything seemed to be fine.

Averick didn't like it.

It felt like the calm before the storm.

And she was right.

* * *

_May 12th, 1992; Post-Dinner_

As Averick and her Court made their way back down to the Dungeons, a foreboding feeling started growing in her chest - one that nearly made her stop dead in her tracks. She felt Theodore's hand touch her back briefly.

"You okay?" he asked softly and Averick nodded once, gritting her teeth. She hated lying to him, he and Abraxas had quickly become two of the best friends she had ever had - only friends, sans James, that is.

"I..." she couldn't even bring herself to say _'_ _I'm_ _good_ ,' and that made her feel so, so weak."I feel like something terrible is about to happen."

Theodore looked at her concerned, "It'll be fine," he said, "We won't let anything happen."

She knew that they would try, at least, to stop anything from happening but Averick had a horrible feeling that they wouldn't be able to stop it. This type of anxiety - fear - had only plagued her once before and it was the moments before James Maddox had been pushed over the railing of the second floor of the orphanage by Joseph Wring.

She looked over at Theodore, "Promise me that you'll be careful," she said quietly. Theodore met her eyes, his concern obviously growing, but after a moment he nodded.

"Always," he murmured and Averick gave him a small smile.

"Good," she said, "Thank you."

He squeezed her wrist gently and they continued down to the dimly lit halls until they reached the door to their common room.

" _ **Open**_ ," Averick hissed and the door swung up.

Valac, who had been curled near the fireplace, perked up when he saw her, " _ **You were gone long,"**_ he complained, " _ **You said it would be short."**_

Averick smirked, " _ **My bad,''**_ she said and if snakes were able to roll their eyes, she was sure that Valac had as he curled back up.

Averick stepped into the common room and immediately it felt as if the air around her had gotten ten times more oppressive, "Did you guys feel that?" she asked and the boys looked at her oddly.

"No," Abraxas said, "Feel what?"

Averick, even more unnerved, just shook her head, "Nothing," she said, "Never mind."

Abraxas and Theodore shared a long look. "Maybe you should sit down, Avery," Abraxas said and Averick fully turned around to look him in the eye, glaring. He immediately backed down, holding his hands up in surrender, "Just a suggestion," he commented.

Averick frowned, turning back around only to feel light-headed. "No," she said, quietly, "Maybe you're right." She promptly headed over to the sofas near the lake and took a seat.

"Is she okay?" she heard Adonis whisper to Orion, "Maybe something was in her food or drink?"

"We could get Snape to test her," Alphard commented but Averick just held up a hand.

"Enough," she said, but there was no force in the word as there usually would have been, "I'm fine. I just need some rest."

Abraxas took a seat on the sofa next to her, "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her seriously, "If one of those _filthy_ Gryffindors put something in your food then I'll-"

"Abraxas, I'm fine," she told him, "The Gryffindors haven't done anything in a while, I don't think they would start with poisoning me. That seems more like something a Slytherin would do - a Gryffindor would have just straight up tried to curse me."

"You think it was a Slytherin?" Aries asked with wide eyes, "Do you want me to hold a House meeting to-"

"I _think_ ," Averick said with a long sigh, "that I'm  _tired._ I _don't_ think that there was some nefarious plan to _poison_ me. Honestly, boys, thank you for the concern but it's unnecessary."

"It's always necessary," Theodore said softly from where he was sitting on the arm of the sofa next to her, "As a part of your Court, it's our job to protect you."

Averick's throat closed up a little at his words. She'd never had anyone actually care about her before except James. She could certainly get used to it. It was comforting.

"And I'm very,  _very_ thankful for that," Averick said, discreetly squeezing Theodore's hand before letting go, "but right now... please..."

"Okay," Theodore said, giving the rest of her Court a stern look and Averick watched, pleased, as they took seats in nearby couches and chairs.

"May I see your pendant?" Abraxas asked hesitantly as Averick leaned back into the sofa, closing her eyes. "I-I've been curious ever since you mentioned it on Samhain."

Averick nodded once and she felt Abraxas's chilly fingers ghost over her neck as he pulled the pendant out from beneath her shirt - a habit that she hadn't quite lost since her time in the orphanage. Every time that it's out and visible, Averick could practically feel the whips of the Sisters against her skin but with Abraxas and Theodore, and being in the comfort of the Slytherin Common Room, she felt safe, even with the pendant out.

"It's odd," Theodore murmured, "I've never seen one like that before, but I have seen similar ones with contradicting meanings."

"What do you mean?" Averick asked curiously, not bothering to open her eyes.

"The three triangles," he explained, "Or the single conjoined triangle depending on how you look at it - it's a very old Norse symbol and it could mean one of two things: harbinger of death or protection  _from_ death. It's the hieroglyphs around that I don't recognize."

"Interesting," Averick murmured, "Do you think it's bad?"

"I think that if you evaded death for ten years in that forsaken orphanage," Abraxas said darkly, "then it's doing something right."

_Well, I can't argue with that._

_**"Averick..."** _

At first, Averick thought it was simply Valac, but when she opened her eyes she saw that across the room, Valac was fast asleep.

_**"Remember thy heritage. Protect thy homeland from those that will stain it with dirtied hands."** _

_What the fuck?!_

Averick snapped up, half leaping to her feet, shocking Abraxas and Theodore. She felt her pendant rip from her neck due to her sudden movement and it being firmly held in Abraxas's hand.

"Averick, what the..." she heard Abraxas distantly cry out, but his words faded into background noise as her eyes met that of her reflection.

Standing next to her was the woman. The long, dirty black hair and dirty skin covered by animal hide remained the same, but her amber eyes were now a glowing gold, staring at her hauntingly and her lips were twisted up into a closed, vicious smile.

"What...?" she breathed out, _she had never appeared in glass before,_ slowly turning to the side only to come face to face with the terrifying being.

 _Oh my god,_ Averick thought,  _she's here._

She heard her friends shouting, asking her what was happening, begging her to just  _go to the damn infirmary, something is clearly wrong._

_Can they not see her? Why can't they see her?_

Averick's eyes widened as she watched the woman's arm draw back, but Averick couldn't move, couldn't think.

_Where did all of my survival instincts go? Move, move, move._

But she couldn't, she could only watch as her arm snapped forward and three nails - as long and sharp as knives - ripped through her neck, slitting it in two.

For a moment, she felt nothing, she heard nothing. She felt the blood as she placed her hand against her neck **.**  She saw the blood spurting from her carotid artery, which had been clearly been sliced open and she saw the wild eyes of the woman. 

_**"Time for thou to return to our fatherland."** _

And then the woman was gone and Averick dropped. One of the boys had grabbed her before she hit the ground and amber eyes met pretty, teary blue ones.

 _Theo_ , she thought dully. He was screaming at someone to just  _get help_ ,  _get fucking Dumbledore or Pomfrey_ but no one was listening half of them in shock, half of the screaming similar things to others that weren't listening.

"Avery, hey, just hold on," Theodore pleaded letting her rest in his lap, trying and failing to stop the blood flow. "Mulciber is getting help, okay?"

 _Mulciber, quick thinker, be good in Inner Court_ , she thought absentmindedly. 

_Everything hurts, make it stop._

Averick opened her mouth to say something, but as soon as she attempted she started choking on her own blood. "Avery, calm down, don't try to say anything, shh, it's okay. You'll be fine."

 _No,_ she thought,  _I'm going to die. After everything I survived in the orphanage I'm going to die in the one place I finally felt safe._

_How **fucking** ironic._

She let her head fall to the side and Averick noticed her pendant laying on the ground, the leather string split. Weakly, she reached her hand out to it.

_If I am to die, I'll do it with the one thing that had been with me my entire life._

Theodore saw where she was reaching and with his free hand, he grabbed it, placing it in her bloody hand.

Averick immediately felt content, her breathing began to slow.

Any minute now, she would either pass out from blood loss, or die, and she was looking forward to it - the pain was too much. It went against her every instinct, but at the point she was at, death would be more of a blessing than surviving.

Unfortunately, she neither died nor passed out, rather everything around her disappeared and she briefly blacked out only to awaken in unrecognizable woods.

* * *

Everything had happened so _fucking_ fast and now he was left with his best friend's blood drenching his clothes and body. Staring into his reflection through the glass of the lake, Theodore Nott desperately tried to put together what had just happened.

 _Averick hadn't been feeling good, they sat down, looked at the pendant. Averick jumped out of her seat, the pendant ripped off of her neck, and something fucking_ ** _slashed_ ** _her throat. She was_ ** _dying_  ** _in my arms and then she disappeared when she touched the pendant._

_How does any of this make sense?_

He heard the Common Room doors slam open and knew that Mulciber had returned with an army of teachers from what he could hear. There were loud gasps, cries of shock and fast speaking. Theo couldn't blame them, the Common Room looked like it was something out of one of those muggle horror movies Dolohov was so fond of. There was so much blood everywhere, Theo and Abraxas, who had been closest to Averick, were drenched in it. It stained the glass of the lake, the walls, the sofas.

"Where's Averick?" Mulciber demanded, "Where the hell is she?"

No one responded, "Guys!" Mulciber shouted, panicked, "What the fuck happened?"

"She's gone," Abraxas said, his voice sounded dull, emotionless. Theo finally looked up from his own reflection and saw that Abraxas was staring at the place he last saw Averick - in Theo's arms.

"Albus," Madam Pomfrey began quietly, "The amount of blood... there's no possible way the poor girl could have survived."

Theo whipped around, "Don't you  _fucking_ say that," he shouted, "She was  _alive_ when she disappeared!"

"Mister Nott!" McGonagall snapped, but her heart clearly wasn't into it, "Language."

Madam Pomfrey looked at him pityingly - he hated it. "My dear, even if she was alive when she disappeared, the amount of blood she lost here... she wouldn't have made it another twenty seconds."

Theo didn't want to hear it so he shut his eyes and placed his bloody face into his bloodier hands, only smearing the blood more. 

"I'll make an announcement in the morning," Dumbledore said quietly, "Unfortunately, the lot of you aren't going to get much sleep tonight - I'm going to have to call the Aurors and they're going to have long discussions with all of you."

Above him, Abraxas looked at him, "Are you  _implying_ that we had something to do with this?" he hissed, "We would never do something like this - especially not to one of our own."

Theo could practically hear Dumbledore's unspoken question:  _was she really one of 'your own'?_

 _And she was,_ Theo thought, viciously,  _she was more than one of us._

When he finds out who did this, he'd kill them.

* * *

Averick felt the blood flow slow considerably as her eyes shot open. It didn't stop, but it was flowing at such a slow pace that it was barely leaving her body. 

Gasping for painful breaths, she forced herself to her feet, eyes wide. 

_Where the hell am I?_

**_Roanoke Island, find the altar._ **

Averick started, shocked. The voice wasn't the one of the woman that did this to her, but rather it appeared to be her own, answering her question.

 _What the hell am I doing in Roanoke?_ Averick thought, desperately, as she stumbled through the dark, thick woods holding her hand against her split neck. She could barely think straight, much less walk. She didn't even know how she could walk, with the amount of blood she had lost in the Common Room, she should be dead and if not dead, unconscious.

Somehow, though she didn't know where was - she _did_ know where she was going as she held herself up against trees, following an obscure, haunting path that led to a circle of rocks in a clearing.

In the midst of the circle, was a stone altar.

_**Bleed.** _

Instinctually, she moved forward, half crawling on the ground towards the altar. She made her way into the middle of the circle of stones and forced herself up to her knees, a bloody hand grabbing the edge of the altar.

 _Help me,_ she pleaded to whatever was god listening to her,  _I don't want to die._

_**And so, we won't.** _

* * *

Theo listened in mute silence as Dumbledore made the announcement the next morning.

"Last night," he announced, solemnly, "Slytherin First Year, Averick Potter was murdered in her common room. There will..."

Chaos erupted and Theo just sat there, staring blankly at the empty seat across from him.

_She can't be dead._

* * *

_Everything around her faded away before her surroundings reappeared, changed and somehow, Averick instinctually knew that she stood on the Island of Roanoke in the year 265. Feeling a presence appear behind her, Averick whipped around and her eyes met the glowing gold ones of the woman that slit her throat open and had been stalking her since she looked into her first mirror. Stumbling back, the woman let out a hiss of a laugh, her hand wrapping around Averick's forearm and her sharp, pointed nails drawing blood._

_"Who the hell are you?" Averick demanded, blood flying from her mouth, voice raspy - for once in her life, scared out of her mind._

_With a wild look in her eyes, the woman let a feral grin appear on her face revealing blackened teeth, "_ ** _I am Scáthach,_ "** _the woman hissed, and to Averick's shock, she spoke in Parseltongue, which only made her all the more disconcerting,_ **" _The_**   _ **first of our kind."** _

* * *

_**a/n** _

How I've been imagining Averick's pendant:


	14. The House of MacQuayne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: mentions of rape
> 
> sorry for the lack of update the past few days - I'm gonna have to slow down with updates bc I have big exams coming up - I'll try to do 2 a week

_**The House of MacQuayne** _

_"The future waits, oh it's calling. My Genesis."_

* * *

_"Why am I here? How am I here?" Averick demanded, looking around wildly despite the shooting pains in her neck. The woman - being, really - grabbed her hair harshly and forced her head to turn toward her. Averick gasped out in pain as her neck began spurting blood again._

_Scáthach drew her nails back over the gaping wound and Averick briefly blacked out from severe pain before it disappeared. Weakly, she brought her hand up to touch her neck only to feel that the blood was gone and in its place was a large ragged scar._

_"The first voyage to the New Land was long before the time of the colonists," Scáthach spoke in English, though her voice still had the remnants of Parseltongue with her elongated "s's." Averick looked at her angrily - this woman couldn't expect me to stay here after she slit my throat - but Scáthach continued looking out towards the sea that had appeared after Averick had bled on the altar as a ship continued sailing in land. "Rome controlled all lands. Mine own people were deemed heretics for worshiping the gods of Olde. Emperor Gallienus ordered the legion based in Britannia to split to the three main sectors of our worship: Isca Silurom, Eboracum, and my home, Deva. He blamed us for the crises that plagued his reign."_

_Averick looked over at the odd woman, who looked incredibly solemn as she watched the incoming ship with hard eyes. "The cohorts sent to our home were cruel and merciless. They took the women as they pleased, killed the men. Mine own father, the Hierophant, begged the gods to protect us from the monsters that invaded our land but the gods turned the other cheek as father was slaughtered in the temple and I was ripped from my land."_

_"Why?" Averick asked without meaning to, shifting uncomfortably as piercing gold eyes landed on her, "Why were you ripped from your land?"_

_"The King ordered Cohorts to sail west to find new lands to conquer," Scáthach said simply, "They took me as a means to further spite mine own slain father and as a way to quell their pleasures while on the ship. I had been eleven years old."_

_Averick stilled at her words quell their pleasures? She was no older than I at the time, she thought, shuddering slightly.  _

_Noting her reaction, Scáthach eyed her before returning her gaze to the docked ship, "At nights, as they used me, I'd lay there cursing the gods I had worshipped for so many years. I'd beg them to kill me, if they were merciful. They never did. I hated them at the time, but now I am so, very thankful," she said darkly, "They gave me the one thing I never thought I'd receive: vengeance."_

_Averick's breath caught, thinking of all of the possibilities, "And these Olde Gods," she began, "would they be able to give me the same justice?"_

_Scáthach looked at her, a cruel grin etching at her lips, "And so, so much more, child," she whispered before continuing on with her story, "We landed on the shores of this very island - the diseases that plagued the ship were blamed on the feminine presence, as if they hadn't forced me along. They deemed me a witch and sentenced me to the stake._

_"As I was being tied and the wood piled around me, I prayed to the very gods that I had despised not long before and they answered my prayers. As they set fire to burn my living body, I was imbued with the darkest of magics. I could feel it sweep through the blood and seep into the bones, becoming a part of mine own very soul and they burned me alive, but I returned to the living. When they thought me dead and untied me from the stake, I screamed and destroyed them all."_

_Averick watched as the scenery around them shifted and the appeared in a small clearing where a young, beautiful girl was being tied to a stake. She knew that it was Scáthach, but even if she hadn't the long dark hair and amber eyes were prominent - as was the beautiful metal half-gauntlet that currently adorned Averick's right arm._

_She watched the eleven-year-old girl burn alive, she watched her die and she felt the heavy, oppressive, tell-tale air of dark, primal magic. She watched as Scáthach returned to the land of the living and slaughtered her captors._

_Scáthach looked over at Averick, who was listening to the tale raptly. "The power I was given, it already resides within thee, unlike all of my other descendants whose other magics dominated that of the Olde. We have to awaken it."_

_"How?" Averick asked, her voice breathless. She could feel the power, the strength that whirled around her, seducing her like none other. She needed this. She needed it more than anything._

_"Thou has to die on the lands of thy ancestors."_

_And so she did - die that is. Scáthach hadn't given her much of a choice. She ripped away the magic that had taken away her pain and stopped the bleeding of her neck and she bled out in the arms of her ancestor._

_And she had awoken not long after and she felt so, so good._

* * *

_Her eyes snapped open and she gasped for breath. Her hand flew to her neck only to find a large metal choker around her neck. It was around four fingers long and two inches thick, she could feel engravings in it but couldn't figure out what it was. She placed her hand against the ground to push her up, shivering as her bare hand met chilly stone._

_Sitting up, she realized that she was on the very altar that she had bled on earlier, but it was different - newer. The one from her time had been crumbling and old. This looked as if it had just been built with aconite and black roses decorating around the circle of stones that surrounded the altar. She looked over to the side and found that she was staring into a mirror that hung on a large slab of stone._

_Looking down at the collar-esque piece of jewelry. She realized that it was dark as smoke, edged in red gold and gleamed and shimmered each time she moved her head. The engravings she had felt were now visible - whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel._

_"What is this?" her voice was still raspy from when her neck had been sliced open._

_"A gift from dying gods," Scáthach said simply and Averick turned around, her eyes widening when they fell upon the rejuvenated figure of the older woman. She no longer looked dirty and ratty. Her long dark hair was smooth, her skin clear and her teeth white. She was still dressed in animal hide but it wasn't done shoddily._

_"Dying gods...?" Averick asked with a frown. Her mind was still muddy from dying, she was trying to regain her thoughts as she was told new things which were just making her more confused._

_"The gods of Olde are dying," Scáthach said darkly, "Once they had millions of worshippers and now they've dwindled to I, you, and only a few others. Without believers, they are nothing. We are nothing."_

_"What are they?" Averick asked, "The Gods?"_

_Scáthach smiled slowly, "A pantheon of dark, bloodthirsty deities belonging to ancient beliefs that predate any other religion. They are the ones that gave our family magic."_

_Averick pressed her fingers against her temple, "But that's-that's not how it works," she said, desperately confused, "You're either born with magic or not, you're not given it halfway into your life."_

_Scáthach shook her head, "No, perhaps not normal witches and wizards, but we are not ordinary witches. What do you think I meant when I said we were the first of our kind?"_

_"Parselmouth, I thought you meant you were the first Parselmouth. What are you? What am I?" Averick demanded and Scáthach paused, thinking deeply._

_"I suppose," she began, "that I am the first Parselmouth as well. Our family marrying into the Slytherin family passed on the blood trait to their line but we are more than that. Unlike other witches, we weren't given our magic by Magic, herself, we were given it by her much darker counterparts. The primal magic of the Olde runs through our very veins, makes up our skin and bones. Thou can feel it, can't thee?"_

_And she could, it was strong, dizzying, **beautiful**. It was unlike anything that Averick had ever felt before. _

_"Thou was the first of mine own descendants to be able to unlock the Olde magic. Others magic had come from the native wizards our family bred with and eventually the English wizarding colonists," Scáthach explained, "But thou has more - perhaps even more than mine own..."_

_"Why?" Averick asked, pushing herself off of the altar to get a closer look at herself in the intricate mirror decorating the slab of stone beside the altar._

_"Thy magic has that of the natives and colonists in addition to mine own. That is why you are able to use a wand," Scáthach said, gazing at her intently through the mirror, "If you had just the Olde magic, you would not be able to use a wand to channel thy magic."_

_Averick's eyes widened at the implication. I need no wand to channel Olde magic? It wouldn't trigger the Trace or anything... _

_"And harnessing the Olde magic should come naturally with our native blood and mine own assistance..." Scáthach shook her head, trailing off, looking as if she were in deep thought._

_"How are you here?" Averick finally asked, finally realizing that the woman had been born in the third century and should be long dead._

_Scáthach gave her a long look before turning away, her voice oddly solemn. "The magic of the Olde gods made me immortal - a goddess in the eyes of the mortal men. With that immortality came a curse, I bore one child - a female - and became barren, having to watch my daughter and my daughter's children and my daughter's children's children die long before me."_

_"You've been alive for seventeen hundred years?" Averick breathed out in disbelief and Scáthach nodded briefly._

_"I have. I made a home of this island and a family of its inhabitants and the visiting Wizarding Europeans. The children of my daughter and their descendants created families with their fellow wizards and witches, eventually taking up the surname MacQuayne. The muggle natives respected our land, gave us offerings. The wizarding natives were familiar with what we were, even though they knew we were not exactly like them, and they also wouldn't dare to encroach on our land without invitation. I made my presence unknown after my grandchildren's deaths but the memory of me never left the legends of the natives - the woman that harnessed the power of gods. I lived in the lands of our Island, taking the forms of different animals as our family thrived._

_"For over a thousand years, all was well," Scáthach said darkly, the air around them responding to her anger as the wind picked up, far too chilly for the month of May. "And then the muggle colonists invaded."_

_Averick's breath caught. She had heard of the horrors done by the European colonists to the North American natives. She could only imagine what had happened that caused Scáthach's anger._

_"They desecrated **my land. They killed mine own people, stole our food, our family was forced into hiding and there was nothing I could do lest I revealed mine own presence to mine own descendants," **Scáthach's slip into Parseltongue was a testimony to how furious she was, Averick could feel the hatred on her tongue. " **For the first time in generations, I prayed to the Olde Gods, begging them one last time to help me save my land and they answered giving me a one word spell that would vanquish the intruders from existence."**_

_Averick's eyes widened, her mind immediately going to the word that she had written over and over and over again in her childhood. The word that plagued her thoughts and mind but she never dared to speak aloud._

_The word slipped from her mouth before she had a chance to still her tongue:_

_" **Croatoan**."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I totally understand that this chapter is probably confusing - with the Olde Gods and the magic of Scathach - so if you have any questions PLEASE ask them, because this is all important to the rest of the story!!
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, so I got a fantastic question from TimeLadyHope and I figured I may as well answer here. PLEASE READ:
> 
> TimeLadyHope: What Olde gods? Which pantheon? At, least if you don't mind my asking? Extra Kudos! :)
> 
> ANSWER:
> 
> Okay, so basically, it’s not one that exists in our world/mythology - per say. Rather, it’s an obscure one that I’ve created for this universe. I’ve based it a little off of the ancient Celtic deities, but they’re much, much darker and they have lighter counterparts to them
> 
> I don’t want to explain more about them in detail because Averick’s going to learn the history of them in the next chapter when she gets to the Seat of the House of MacQuayne, but I do want to get into magic itself in this universe.
> 
> So, like I said, there is Magic and there are the Olde Gods (the Dark Pantheon and the Light Pantheon)
> 
> Magic, obviously, is a deity (comparable to Hekate), that gives True Magic to mortals (wizards and witches). All spells in the Harry Potter universe are a type of magic blessed by Magic. They claim there is dark and light spells, but their Magic is truly NEUTRAL. Curses and hexes are deemed so by the ministry, that doesn't make it truly DARK.
> 
> Averick’s pantheon is TRUE dark. The type of magic they were blessed with is dark magic that goes beyond the “curses” deemed by the ministry. We’re talking about real malicious, nefarious magic. We’re talking blood rituals, true necromancy (not Inferi and Charmed Skeletons, which, while do lean dark are still NEUTRAL), voodooism, conjuration, death magic, possession, illusions, dark elemental magic, etc.
> 
> Then, the last pantheon - of the Light - which will come into play later in the book, is TRUE light, the Dark Pantheon's counterparts. This encompasses magics such as abjuration, animancy, aura reading, purification, restoration, sanctification, light elemental magic, etc.
> 
> So, with this being said, Voldemort was NOT a true Dark Lord, at least not by the definition of magic itself. He was a very powerful NEUTRAL wizard who aimed for traditionalist ideals (blood purity, free magic, etc).
> 
> In the eyes of the ignorant public, of course, he was a dark lord, because they know nothing (or little) of the Dark and Light Pantheons of Gods.
> 
> REMEMBER, PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE THEM - JUST BE POLITE, THANK YOU
> 
> \- ROSIERS


	15. CROATOAN

**_CROATOAN_ **

_"Oh cause they will run you down, down 'til the dark. Yes, and they will run you down, down 'til you fall and they will run you down, down 'til you go."_

* * *

_Scáthach smiled slowly as the word left her lips, "Yes," she said, her English barely discernible from Parseltongue. " Croatoan. The word that created the Lost Colony and saved our home from destruction."_

_Averick looked at her slowly, "What do you mean 'saved from destruction?' I thought it just wiped out the colonists? What aren't you telling me?"_

_Scáthach shook her head, "No, child, as the colonists desecrated our land, the magic of the Olde gods, which was imbued within our land, began weakening. Our fertile lands began dying, diseases plagued the animals and water, and I began losing my powers. My descendants still had their own magic due to the breeding with the native's magics but it wasn't the magic of the Olde gods. Our lands are being invaded once again and the Olde magic is abuzz, waiting for the spell to be cast once again."_

_Averick's breath caught, "I don't understand what you're implying," she hissed, "Explain."_

_Scáthach stared at her for a moment, "Mine own magic has all but faded with your birth, eleven years ago. I've been leeching off of the weakening remnants of the land's as you grew older. There is nothing I can do to protect our land," she explained, "Do you feel the magic right now? How it was a millennia ago? The power? The ferocity of it?"_

_And she did, there was no way she couldn't. Still in the old lands, the magic of the Olde gods was so profound that it encompassed her every pore, her every cell. It weighed down on her body and soul._

_"Now tell me what you feel."_

_Everything went dark._

* * *

She knew, somehow, that she was back in 1992. Even if she didn't, she would have been able to tell where she was by the blood, which was so obviously her own, smeared across the earthy ground and the stone altar in front of her.

"What do you feel?"

Averick turned around and her breath caught as she came face to face with the form of Scáthach that had brutally slit her throat. The dirty, disgusting one that lived up to her age of seventeen hundred years old. Instinctually, she cringed back but Scáthach paid her no mind as she continued to stare her down.

Thinking to her question and feeling the air around her, the answer hit her immediately.

She felt nothing. There was magic, for sure, but it was weak, barely there. It was nothing like the lands of the year 265 where the magic was rich in the land. The air around her felt dry, empty. 

Unnatural.

"I don't feel anything," she said softly and Scáthach nodded swiftly, her golden eyes wild.

"It's up to you to save our homeland. The muggles are destroying us - seeping their chemicals into our sacred grounds, violating the magic and killing our gods. The magical government of North America swore to keep our land protected, not to let settlers back onto our land. They failed and they knew what the consequences of their failure would be," Scáthach gripping Averick's arm tightly, her nails drawing blood from her forearm.

Realizing what Scáthach was implying, Averick felt her face drain of color.

"... You want me to invoke the magic of the Olde Gods and wipe our land of its muggle inhabitants," Averick slowly said, looking at Scáthach, who watched her with careful eyes, "You want me to murder ten thousand people."

"Seven thousand," Scáthach corrected.

 _As if that makes it any better,_ Averick thought bitterly, her mind whirring.  _If I get caught, I'll be in Azkaban right beside my traitorous 'father'._

Scáthach suddenly looked angry and Averick drew away from her, "I'm astounded that you are even considering  _not_ to," she hissed. "This is our magic, our land, our people at  _stake."_

"Considering not to  _murder_ seven thousand people? Yeah, what a shocker," Averick shouted, her hands flying to her hair, eyes wide.  _How the fuck has this happened?_   _A year ago today I was literally starving to death in an orphanage and now I'm what? Being asked to commit mass murder? What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?_

In a matter of literally two hours, Averick had been murdered, resurrected and is now being told to basically commit a genocide. This was too fucking much.

"You of all people know how terrible muggles are," Scáthach snapped, "You of all people should  _want_ this."

Averick's eyes flashed to a boy with golden blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, a rare smile on his lips, "Not all of them," she murmured.

"James Maddox is an exception, Averick MacQuayne, not the rule," Scáthach said darkly, "This must be done if you want to tap into our family magics, otherwise the magic we were given blessed by the gods will  _die_ because of you."

Averick turned away from the other woman, staring at the altar and the large stone slab, which was now crumbling, behind it. Averick's eyes narrowed onto it and she made out a word that she didn't notice earlier - not that it was her fault that she was bleeding out and in pain.

_**CROATOAN** _

Carved into the slab of rock and seeping what looked like blood from the cracks. It sent shivers down her spine and she physically rubbed at her arms.

"They won't feel it, Averick," Scáthach continued, coming up behind Averick. "It'll be as if they never existed. I placed warning after warning to ward them off of our land and yet they still pushed through. This is their own fault."

"This is crazy," Averick shook her head, "There's got to be another way. This is too dangerous and-"

"You have killed before, Averick, for much less noble reasons," Scáthach said coolly.

"There's no noble reason for killing," Averick countered, giving her a cold look. She didn't regret what she did to survive, but it didn't make it right. "I killed to survive, this isn't killing to survive."

"Yes," Scáthach said, "It is."

Averick looked at her, sharply, "What are you talking about?"

"The Olde Magic is engrained deep within your magical core and if it were to die, your body would slowly deteriorate. You'd lose your magic first and then your life not long after," Scáthach said, "This is a matter of your survival."

Averick grimaced at the words but Scáthach continued.

"And if you die, Averick, then the man that ruined your life  _wins_."

Averick couldn't think straight, "No," she said, trying to find a way to communicate her thoughts and failing, "They'll  _know_ , they'll all know. Everyone knows I'm head of the MacQuayne family - they'll know what I've done and then I-"

"Perhaps," Scáthach interrupted, "It won't matter though. There's nothing they can do. The American magical government has no jurisdiction over this land, whatever crimes are committed here-"

"There are organizations more  _powerful_ ," Averick yelled, remembering her and Uncle Cygnus's long discussions over politics in the magical world, "The ICW will throw me in Azkaban and then I'll be good as  _dead_. This isn't a crime that can just be hidden, we're talking about a genocide!"

"You're not listening to me," Scáthach hissed, "This land has no ruler, no organization can lay claim, be it your ICW or the American government. _Olde_ _Magic_ rules Roanoke and it orders you to  _purge_ this land of the invaders. You cannot and will not disobey the Olde." _  
_

"I can and  _will_ ," Averick shook her head, drawing back, her decision made. "You can't make me murder all of these people-"

"It's not murder."

"It's good as!" Averick shouted, "If I kill or don't kill these people, either way, I'm good as  _dead_. If I don't, my lack of magic and if I do, Azkaban is in my near future."

Scáthach didn't speak, furious glowing eyes trained on Averick, who took a slight step away from the angry immortal. "You will," she finally said, "You don't need to do it willingly."

It took a moment for Scáthach's words to register in Averick's head and when it finally did, it was too late.

"Wh-"

Suddenly, Averick was pressed against the crumbling slab of stone and she let out a shriek of pain as her wrist was cut open. Desperately, she tried to pull away, she could feel tears running down her face but she wasn't sure when she had started crying. 

_Nononononononononononononononono_

Scáthach was too strong, despite her frail, disgusting appearance, she was easily able to keep Averick pinned against the large rock. With her cheek pressed against it, she can only watch as her blood began flowing from her body and into each of the cracks of the word.

As each letter filled, the air around the two became more oppressive, heavier, until Averick could practically taste the darkness with each breath she took.

Her vision became hazy and her body weak, but Averick couldn't tell if it was from blood loss or the drunkening magic. She supposed it didn't really matter.

She felt Scáthach's nails grip her chin and force her to look at her. " _ **Say it, my child."**_

Averick shook her head,  _no_ , she thought desperately and then Scáthach's other hand dug into the wound on her wrist and Averick screamed.

" _ **Say it,"**_  Scáthach said calmly, and Averick - drunk on magic, hazy in pain - couldn't stop herself before the word left her lips:

" _ **Croatoan."**_

The effects took hold immediately, Scáthach released her and around her, magic  _exploded_ , the dying grass immediately looked lush and green, the altar was restored to the magnificent state she had seen it in a millennia ago and the stormy sky cleared.

Averick, with wide eyes, looked up from her bloody hand to the newly bloody word carved into the rock. Her eyes turned to Scáthach, fear and apprehension crawling through her stomach, squeezing her insides like vines. The previously dying magic overran all of her senses, flowing through her pores and into her body, giving her a feeling that she could only describe as fucking  _exhilarating_  despite undeniable terror.

 _"What the fuck have you done?"_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, next chapter won't be - history of the house, magic, Pantheon + time skip


	16. Return

_**Return** _

_"And way down we go."_

* * *

For weeks, Averick waited for Aurors to appear and haul her off to Azkaban and for weeks, there was nothing - absolutely nothing. No Aurors, no summons from any Wizarding Court, nothing. It was as if what she had been forced to do had never happened. 

But it did. It did happen and Averick had to live with that and face the consequences of her weakness. There were some days that Averick  _wanted_ Aurors to come and drag her to Azkaban because she didn't deserve to get away with what she did. 

Roanoke had never been a bustling city, she knew that. The population had been small, but it hadn't been  _zero._  It looked like something she could only picture out of one of those muggle post-apocalyptic fiction books - cars stranded in the middle of the street, shopping carts littered around in empty parking lots eerily rolling in the wind, abandoned houses and stores lining the streets. It was unnatural and frightening.

And then, a week or two after the spell, everything began disappearing. It was small, at first - the shopping carts and cars began vanishing and Averick didn't even notice it. Then one day when she was walking around the island, she realized there wasn't a single car, a single shopping cart, a single bike or scooter or anything in sight. Then, the roads began fading back into the dirt of the Earth and the houses and buildings began disintegrating in the wind.

The island was getting rid of everything and anything related to the modern world until the only thing left was the ancestral seat of the House of MacQuayne, a large medieval castle that was deep in the marshes of Roanoke Island, beautiful and elegant but so,  _so_ unsettling. 

She spent her days and nights learning of the Olde Pantheon - of the Dark Gods and their lighter counterparts, of Magic and magic, of the history of her family. She didn't sleep, when she did she was faced with masses of unrecognizable bodies surrounding her and she knew it was the people of Roanoke that she had murdered.

Sometimes her dreams slipped into reality and when she looked into a mirror, Scáthach was gone but there were hordes of people with black, empty faces standing behind her. 

She lost one ghost and gained seven thousand others. She feared, one day, it would drive her mad.

_And so is the life of Averick MacQuayne._

* * *

Sitting with her readings, Averick stiffened as she felt the malevolent presence of Scáthach appear over her shoulder. The relationship between the two had been strained, to say the least, after the events of May 12th.

Not that it hadn't been strained before, they didn't exactly have a foundation built on stone.

"What could you possibly want?" Averick hissed, slamming the large book shut with a loud bang. Behind her, Scáthach chuckled. "We have an accord, you stay on your half of the house, I stay on mine."  
  
Averick turned around to face Scáthach, eyes flashing with glee when she realized how much worse for wear she was. Her dark, scraggly hair was greasy and falling out, her yellowing teeth were nigh black and she was missing more than one, her skin was a sickly yellow-white color and her gold eyes were dull. 

Scáthach's powers had been all but destroyed when Averick called upon the magic of the Dark Pantheon and all but became their vessel for magic. She had learned that Scáthach had been their vessel when she was younger and as she grew older and unstable, the magic began using the land as its vessel. Now Averick held the title and harnessed powers unspeakable and unbelievable to mankind.

Scáthach begged her to give her some magic because she didn't want to die and Averick denied her of it, just like Scáthach denied her of choice. She stripped the mad woman of any magic except her immortality and made sure that she would rot, powerless, until Averick decided to have mercy and kill her.

"Curious to thy studies," Scáthach hissed, her voice barely discernible from parseltongue.

"If it were any of your business, I would have approached  _you_ about it," Averick said, voice cold. "Either way, you can tell just fine how my  _studies_ are going."

Scáthach let out a mad sounding laugh, her eyes darting to the markings that lined her arms and disappeared up her shirt. "That I can," she noted, "You've done better than even I expected, the Pantheon is impressed."

Averick sneered, "You and I both know that the gods don't speak to you anymore - not that they have me now," she spat, "Drag yourself back into the marshes and leave me alone."

Scáthach chuckled reaching towards her and Averick's hand flew forward, the women flew across the room and into shelves of books and tomes. 

"I said  _leave!"_ Averick boomed and Scáthach let out one last laugh before leaving the room. Averick leaned back into the red velvet armchair at her desk, looking down at her arms.

Blackened burn scars in the shape of different, odd symbols marked and patterned up her arm, disappearing beneath her thin t-shirt. Each different burn, each symbol, represented an ability received by the Dark Pantheon ranging from basic wandless magic to the most complex blood magics, she couldn't perform all of it yet, she didn't know what half of them were yet, in fact, but she was learning and for each one that she mastered, the black burn would tint a gold color.

They would be impossible to hide, come time to go back to Hogwarts and Averick would need to make up a reason fast. She didn't need  _Dumbledore_ going around accusing her of being dark, it would cause more problems than help.

She shook her head once, she would deal with that problem when it came to fruition. She turned back to the large, leather book that she had slammed shut. 

_The Truths of Magic._

It was an old book - old as in almost two thousand years old and she had learned more about magic from it in the three months that she's been in Roanoke than she had in almost an entire year at Hogwarts.

Wizards, Averick had found, were fucking stupid and arrogant and Averick hated them. They've warped the minds of generations due to their fear that  _their_ magic isn't the only magic out there. 

The magic owned and used by wizarding kind had been given to them by the deity, Magic. A true neutral deity who blessed the original twenty-four wizards and witches with the ability to utilize and channel her powers -  _neutral_ powers, not dark, not light like the wizards of the current day and age claim about certain spells.

The magic given to wizards and witches was  _neutral_ and they went around claiming spells as  _dark_ and  _light_ as if they had any idea what any of that meant. 

True _dark_ magic, true  _light_ magic was dangerous, it was primal and intoxicating and given by the Pantheon of Dark and the Pantheon of Light, as rare as it was.

As far as Averick knew, she and Scáthach were the only two mortals to have ever been blessed by the Dark Pantheon and there has yet to be anyone chosen as the Light's champion.

While dark magic did tend to focus on the... well, darker aspects of magic: necromancy, blood magic, mind magic, for example, there were spells that had more positive effects - there were many types of healing magics: regeneration, soul healing, mind healing, some came with a price and others didn't.

Likewise, light magic wasn't necessarily  _good_. Similarly to dark magic, it tended to focus on the lighter aspects of magic: abjuration, animacy and restoration, there were some destructive light spells that could do just as much damage as dark.

Neither dark nor light were either good or bad. Dark didn't equate evil, light didn't equate good - intention did, it was as simple as that.

The Pantheons themselves were vague, even in all of the books within the Castle MacQuayne, and even then, there was more information on the Dark Pantheon than the Light.

As far as Averick knew, it was a Pantheon of deities that controlled the darker, more destructive aspects of the world. There could be anywhere from dozens to hundreds of deities on the Pantheon, there was no way of telling for sure. The only four deities confirmed to be a part of the pantheon were Mordred, God of Murder, Cobizana, Goddess of Greed and Ambition, Tolemiat, God of Madness, and Medo, God of Fear.

She only knew of their existence because when she placed her hands atop the glowing stone at the head of the altar, it revealed her alignment to the four - though she hadn't quite been too sure what it had meant until Scáthach explained it, also telling her that Scáthach herself had only aligned with Mordred.

Averick wasn't exactly sure what an alignment  _was_ , per say, and there were no explanations as to what it was in any of the books she had read. Even Scáthach, when Averick finally spoke to her again, had no information as to what it meant, it was just something she was told.

Sometimes, due to her alignment towards them, they'd speak to her during the night - on the rare nights that she had no dreams of faceless spirits. 

Sometimes, she would rather have the nightmares of the ghosts that haunt her. 

The gods of the Dark Pantheon were cruel and dangerous, she knew that. They had to be considering what parts of life they ruled over, but they found joy in her discomfort and fear of them - Tolemiat and Medo especially. You'd think that Mordred, as the God of Murder, would be the scariest of the four, but Tolemiat took the prize for that.

The god, true to his domain, was as insane as they come. Some nights, when he came to her, he was totally out of it, laughing wildly and rambling. His rambles always held important information if, that is, Averick was able to decipher them. Other times, he would be so lucidly calm but his eyes would hold a demented type of glee that chilled Averick's bones. 

Though, as unnecessarily cruel as they may be, they taught her much more than she would have learned on her own. Mordred and Cobizana were the most helpful, both vying for her major alignment, which apparently would become known as she grew older. 

Mordred explained that there would come a day where her magic chose its major alignment to one of the four and while she would still have the abilities given by the other three, they wouldn't be nearly as strong as her major alignment.

He also explained that they could, if they so pleased, come to her in the form of mortal and they began to do just that - more than once she found Medo and Tolemiat torturing animals in the MacQuayne courtyard.

"Why don't you just kill her?" 

Averick stiffened before turning around to face Mordred, who appeared behind her leaning against the wall, looking amused. He looked down at Averick, gold meeting amber. 

"She's aligned to you," Averick said simply, "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, supporting her?" 

Mordred smirked, wandering around to stand in front of her mahogany desk, "I _am_ the lord of  _murder_ , child. And, anyway, the thing reminds me more of Tolemiat than anything else. That's not the woman that aligned to me seventeen hundred years ago. You are, now."

"Not necessarily," Averick told him, reminding him that her magic hasn't chosen yet. Mordred chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," he mused, "I wonder what Junela thinks of all of this."

Averick looked at him sharply, "Who's that?" she asked but Mordred just shrugged.

"You know I can't tell you that," he said and Averick let out an angry hiss at his words - all she wanted was more information on the Pantheons but every time she tried to ask they shut her down claiming the only ones she needed to know about was the four of them, "Careful now, we don't want you falling under Tolemiat's claws. Calm yourself."

Averick gave him a furious glare, "Get out," she snapped and Mordred laughed before disappearing. Averick felt the rage build up in her body before she slammed her fist down on her desk. There was a sickening crack as the bones in her hand shattered at the force and the mahogany desk cracked right down the middle.

" _FUCK!"_ she screamed but she didn't know if it were in anger or pain.

It was getting worse, the uncontrollable anger and monstrous strength. Before she had been killed, she hadn't experienced it since she murdered Collin Dumont but now it was happening far too often and far too easily. Mordred suspected it was Tolemiat's influence over her on top of his own -  _"murder is quite the violent act, there's no wonder it's affecting you, especially considering your other... unsavory alignment."_

Averick simply grit her teeth, and through the blinding pain of her shattered hand, she grabbed a nearby paper knife and digging it into one of the symbolic runes burned into her wrist. 

As the blood trickled from the mark, it began emitting a soft gold glow and Averick's bones began reforming beneath her skin.

Averick let out a sharp breath before rising to her feet and leaving the room.

She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts.

* * *

It was nearly September 1st and Averick was ready to go back to Hogwarts. She wondered what had happened during her time gone. Roanoke was an oddity even among magical places - everything within, she found, was completely untraceable for all intents and purposes they had no reason to think she had actually survived her throat getting lit. The only one who would know differently was Valac through their bond and he couldn't exactly communicate with any of them.

 _Valac_ , she thought, visibly frowning, she missed the stupid, back-talking snake. As annoying as he was, at times, other than James he was the only family she had.

 _James,_ the name hit her even harder. She hadn't seen him in over a year. She wondered how he was doing - if anything had happened in the time since she's been gone.  _I'll visit him soon,_ she vowed,  _but not yet. No one needs to know I'm alive just yet._  

She didn't know if people would be alerted to her survival the moment she stepped outside of the Island of Roanoke and she didn't want to risk it.

Curiously she thought some more about what the state of Hogwarts would be when she returned. Would she still be queen? Or had someone else taken over in her time gone?

When she had left, things had been perfect. Averick ruled not by fear, but by loyalty. She proved her worth not only by her lineage but by her actions and that was more important than anything else. She had genuine respect from the students in her years and in older years. Slytherin was no longer targeted so blatantly due to her actions.

Yes, the start of her rule had been... _violent_ , to say the least, but it had changed. If she had to regain control by violence and fear again, then so be it, but she wouldn't let her house return to the disgrace it had been prior to her reign.

There was a reason that she was aligned to Medo, whether she liked it or not.

Averick shook her head, _it didn't matter,_ she thought,  _one way or another I'll take my title back._

* * *

"She leans towards Tolemiat, Mordred."

"I know."

"We can't let him have her major alignment. Our Pantheon may represent the more destructive aspects of the world but if Tolemiat were to have to a  _true_ Dark Lord in his grasp..."

"I know."

"I don't think you  _do_. The world will be in shambles if Averick's magic begins to choose him. She has become the vessel to all of our powers-"

"If we had known that Tolemiat was to be one of her alignments, you know that we wouldn't have chosen her. We couldn't have predicted the extreme influence her childhood had on her mentality. It's too late to change anything now, we can only hope for the best and try to lead her away from him."

"You see how she acts - the anger, the violence, sudden fits of uncontrollable fury. She tries to hide it but it's getting worse and the more that Tolemiat appears to her, the more frequent it will get. Something needs to be done and soon."

"I will handle it, Cobizana, as I always do."

"You better because the Light Pantheon is about to choose their champion and if our own champion is  _unfit_ for war, we'll be destroyed and that's not an option. Set her straight or all of our lives will be at stake."

* * *

Averick smiled as she took in the spectacular sight of Hogwarts. She had missed the train - intentionally, of course - and thus had to warp her way in through one of her newfound runes.

She wondered what Dumbledore's reaction would be to her survival - the old man didn't like her, for sure, and she was ready to take her stand against him by reclaiming her seats on the Wizengamot. She was finally done preparing for the impending conflict and was ready to take action.

She stepped forward, up the steps and the main entrance doors flew open at her approach.

She could practically hear the war trumpets sound and they sounded  _magnificent._  

* * *

**_Mordred_ **

_[Matthew Daddario]_

__

**_Cobizana_ **

_[Isla Fisher]_

__

**_Tolemiat_ **

_[Evan Peters]_

__

**_Medo_ **

_[Max Irons]_

__


	17. Homecoming

  _ **Homecoming**_

_"You should see me in a crown."_

* * *

Averick strolled down the halls of Hogwarts. The feast was long over, the students would be in their common rooms and the professors would be having a meeting before the Heads of Houses made their speeches to the new students.

She whistled a low tune eerily similar to Chopin's  _Funeral March_ , she thought it fitting for the moment nearly laughing at her own humor. As she made her way down the hall, she twisted the Black ring around her finger, watching the black gem glint in the low lights illuminating the long hallway.

She noticed the portraits whispering from their frames and Averick blatantly ignored them, continuing her merry way to the Headmaster's office. She was going to get more amusement out of this than she's gotten in years upon years.

She approached the large, ugly gargoyle that led to the entrance of the office. "I request a meeting with the headmaster, tell him it's Miss Potter," Averick said firmly eyes trained solely on the stone beast, "It is urgent and concerning my enrollment in the current school year."

For a moment, the gargoyle didn't move and Averick genuinely considered what the ramifications would be of blasting the gargoyle out of the way, but didn't have enough time to think it through before it swung open, leading up to the Headmaster's office.

She entered the large circular room of the Headmaster's office where all seventeen members of the staff were standing around discussing the Sorting and how the year would progress from here. Her eyes drifted up to the many portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses and her eyes fell upon Phineas Nigellus Black who was staring at her, a mixture of anger and disbelief on his face. At once he disappeared and she knew that he was returning to Grimmauld Place to tell the other portraits of her reappearance.

"Miss Potter-" McGonagall began, obviously expecting it to have been Hyacinth that interrupted their meeting only to freeze at the sight of Averick, who smiled genially at the occupants of the room. The air around them twisted as the teacher's realized who exactly was standing before them.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, her voice nothing but amicable, "I missed the train."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore nearly choked on the lemon drop he was sucking on when he realized that it was not, in fact, Hyacinth Potter that requested entrance to his office but her previously thought deceased twin sister, Averick. With thoughts running at a rate of a million miles per hour, Albus stared at the girl in disbelief. 

_How is she here? She was deemed dead? We and the Aurors searched for hours but could find no trace!_

"I don't understand," Poppy Pomfrey said, stunned, voicing Albus's thoughts, "We and the Aurors searched and searched-"

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Averick Potter noted, amusement lacing her tone at the use of the false statement of Mark Twain. Albus would have been amused, himself, had the situation not been so utterly befuddling to him.

With curious eyes and a carefully blank expression, Albus took in young Averick's change in appearance with hesitation. Though she was obviously trying to hide it, the girl  _reeked_ of dark magic and he wasn't sure if he should attribute it to her brush with death or the fact that she actually may be dabbling in the dark arts, both of which were as likely as the other.

Black burned markings, looking strangely akin to runes and other ancient symbols, but not quite like the ones he's learned, marked her hands, up her arms and disappeared beneath her shirt, covering almost every visible inch of skin. He had no doubt that beneath her clothes, even more decorated her body. Some of them were tinted with an odd gold color and he wasn't quite sure what it meant.

Around her neck was an odd-looking collar. Dark and edged in red gold, gleaming and shimmering every time she moved her head. It was four fingers wide and around two thick, whorls and arcane symbols were carefully engraved into the steel. Albus wondered, briefly, if this piece of jewelry were the reason that she was alive because the Slytherin students had claimed whatever had attacked her had slit her throat in two.

The gem of half-gauntlet of the MacQuayne Family, which Albus was still unsure as to how she became the head of it, emanated a soft glow of four different colors: red, gold, black and green, which was odd, considering that before her supposed death it was a simple amber gem.

Albus's thoughts darkened, he knew far less about the girl than he previously thought. That was dangerous - very dangerous. 

"We need to call the Aurors and let them know of your-"

"No need," Averick interrupted, "The goblins are handling it on my behalf, I would just like to make sure I'm enrolled for the school year. After everything that's happened, I just want one thing to be normal."

"What happened?" Minerva asked her gently.

"After I was... attacked," Averick said, her voice quiet, "I disappeared and reappeared in some damp basement. There was a man, he was glamoured in such a way that I can't even remember what he looks like. He rambled about things -  You-Know-Who, my sister, Headmaster Dumbledore, he said I would pay. He took one of those branding irons and burned each of these symbols into my body. I don't know what they are but I think they were just as a means to hurt me because they don't appear to do anything. I managed to escape a week ago. His wards around his home had fallen and a burst of accidental magic took me from his basement and into the streets of London. I went straight to Diagon Alley and to Gringotts, where I've been recovering. The goblins can affirm my story, if needed."

For a moment, there was silence at her words and then Poppy spoke up, "I'm sorry," she said softly, "We should have looked harder. After you settle back in your House, you come straight to me, you understand? I want to look over you - both at the physical and mental scars to make sure you're okay."

"Of course," Averick murmured. "It's not your fault, the amount of blood there must have been... I don't know how I lived. I'm just happy that I can come back here - home."

And, though she looked like she was genuinely telling the truth, his magic told him differently and Albus didn't believe her for a second.

* * *

 _That's a big lie, Averick, you better pray that the goblins decide to back you up on it,_ Averick twitched at the voice that chided her - it wasn't one that she recognized but it sounded eerily similar to James who had always been her voice of reason.

 _Fuck off_ , Averick thought as she made her way down to the Slytherin Common Room. They had discussed for a solid hour or two how things would proceed from here - there would be an announcement in the morning detailing her survival but would not explain how or what happened because that was for Averick to explain to those she trusted, obviously, an Auror would pop in to talk to her tomorrow and try to get information on the man that kidnapped her so they could find and try him (unfortunately, they wouldn't find him because he didn't exist) and classes would continue as normal - if Averick ever needed a break because of the trauma she went through, the professors would gladly comply.

It couldn't have gone any better even if she had taken Felix Felicis.

 _Or maybe it could have,_ she thought, slightly giddy,  _but it didn't need to._

She knew that Dumbledore didn't fall for it but he didn't need to, in all honesty. Everyone else did and the Auror tomorrow would as well, unless Dumbledore decided to go around voicing his doubt, which was unlikely, she had no need to worry about her near future.

"Where the hell have you been, girl?"

_Or, maybe I do._

She turned and met the angry gaze of Phineas Nigellus Black who was standing in one of the portraits that lined the halls to the Slytherin Common Room. "Don't think I believe your bullshit torture story, we've all thought you dead for the past three and a half months. You better have a damn good explanation for your absence."

Averick smiled lightly, letting out a laugh, "That," she said, "I do. And you'll all hear it come winter break."

" _AVERICK_!" Phineas boomed but Averick was already turning down the next hall and away from him. She ignored him and continued making her way down the halls until she finally paused in front of the entrance. 

She was going to see them again - her friends, _Theo_ \- and she had no idea what she was going to say. Does she tell them the truth or lie? The only person she would be safe to tell the truth to was Abraxas due to his mental shields, the others are security risks but could she go an entire year lying blatantly to Theodore's face?

 _No,_ she realized,  _I couldn't, I have to figure something else out._

" _ **Open."**_

* * *

When the doors to the Slytherin Common Room opened, Theodore Nott expected Snape to be the one gliding in which is why it took him more than a few seconds to actually register  _who_ was standing in the doorway of the common room.

He blinked once, squinted and then blinked again.  _Is that... Averick?_

She looked different, for sure. There were weird black burns marking up her arms and a weird collar-esque piece of jewelry around her neck but those amber eyes were undeniably hers and they stared right into his soul. Theodore's breath caught in his throat.  _It can't be._

"Surprise," she drawled, voice flat, "Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."

 _It was her, alright._  

"Averick?" he breathed out and said girl looked at him, raising her eyebrows. "I don't understand, you were dead. Like dead, dead. There was so much blood and-"

Theodore was rambling, he knew that and it was _so_ unlike him, but how the  _fuck_ was Averick standing before him as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't held her  _dying_ in his arms. Theodore had been through a lot of shit with his father but holding one of his closest friends dying bodies was probably the most traumatic experience he ever, and would ever, deal with. He had to go to therapists for two months afterward because every time he closed his eyes he saw Averick's slit neck and blood everywhere.

"I was," Averick agreed firmly, after a moment of hesitation, "But I'm not anymore." 

Angry, Theodore rose to his feet, glaring, "How long have you been okay? You thought that it was fine just letting us think you  _died_? Do you know how much  _shit_ I went through? Why didn't you  _contact_ any of us?"

Theodore knew that he was pushing it, but even as Averick's gaze turned dark as she stared at him he couldn't stop the words from flying out of his mouth. He  _mourned_ her and cried for her and she couldn't bother to send an ' _oh, I'm alright!'_ note.

"Watch yourself," she said, her voice sharp enough to cut through Theodore's bones and he knew the only reason that she wasn't taking action against him was because he was her friend, "Sit down."

Theodore, for a moment, really considered on not doing what she said but there was something different about her - her magic seemed more volatile and that kind of scared him, he could practically feel it about to lash out. The Nott family blood trait was extreme magic sensitivity and there was something terrifyingly different about Averick's magic - darker, more wild,  _primal._

So, he sat down.

Her eyes left him and she looked out at the crowd in the common room, "Anyone else?" she asked smoothly.

Theodore knew no one would speak up. Even if her magic wasn't so goddamn smothering _(something terrible had changed with it and I can't quite place what it is, it was dark before but this is unlike anything I've ever felt before)_ , her titles would hold even Phillips' most contesting of followers at bay.

"Aren't you a Potter?" one of the new first years,  _Miles Bletchey's little brother?_ , snapped, "Why should we listen to you?"

Theodore winced, he didn't take into account what the little first years would do.

" _Markus_!" Miles shouted.  _Yes, Miles's little brother,_ Theodore thought, pleased. Miles quickly walked forward, eyes trained on Averick, "Forgive him, he's young-"

"Enough," Averick said calmly, waving Miles off. She entirely ignored the brothers, turning to the wall nearest to the common room door. Theodore couldn't quite see what she was doing but then she pressed her hand against the wall, murmured something under her breath, and then dropped her hand. A bloody runic symbol was painted on the wall where her hand previously had been and it faded into the paint before completely disappearing. 

Theodore nearly shuddered as a wave of intoxicating, dark magic swept over him and across the room. His eyes widened,  _where the hell had she been? Did she just perform blood magic in the common room? In Hogwarts? Won't Dumbledore be able to tell?_

"What was that?" Abraxas asked, voice carefully calm.

Averick looked at him, "An ancient secrecy ward. Anything said, or done, within the walls of our common room that I deem private will be unable to be communicated with any other person in any manner outside of the common room or in the presence of someone who is unaware."

"But the rules protect you anywa-"

"I'm not risking Azkaban for a bunch of  _weak,_ unenforced rules," Averick said, her voice clear, resounding around the room, taking a seat on one of the velvet, emerald armchairs. "This ensures your secrecy."

"Azkaban?" Kamil murmured confused and internally, Theodore agreed with the disbelief, sharing a long look with Abraxas.  _What the hell are you planning, Averick?_

"Look, Bletchey's right," Theodore's eyes widened at the voice of Claudio Demirez, Phillips' top supporter. Dolohov, who had taken care of the boy's protests last year, looked at him with narrowed eyes but Demirez didn't back down. "Your reign died when  _you_ died."

"Hold up-" Abraxas began, rising to his feet but Averick held out her hand, stopping him in his tracks.

"Am I dead,  _Claudio_?" Averick asked him, eyes not leaving Demirez from where she was sitting. Theodore winced at the tone she took as she said the boy's first name, not only was it disrespectful to refer to someone by their first name without them saying you were allowed to, but the tone that Averick used ensured that Demirez knew that she meant it in the most insulting way possible.

Demirez's lips pulled back in a near snarl at her words, "You were," he said darkly, "It can happen again."

Theodore's eyes widened at the blatant threat and a grin pulled onto Averick's lips. "That a threat?" she questioned voice flat, bored even. Demirez shifted uncomfortably at the question.

"No," he finally snapped, "But you-"

"But I what?" Averick's voice, previously dull and bored, lit up oddly and she suddenly looked interested, if not... enthusiastic. There was a peculiar look in her eyes, one of dark entertainment, the expectant tone in her voice more threatening than if she had been yelling. Theodore shifted uncomfortable, feeling a subtle but noticeable strange magic brush against him, nothing he had ever felt before, it was dark and primal.  _Is this Averick's magic?_ The girl had been dark before, but this was unlike... anything else. He felt a shiver run down his spine as the magic pinpricked his skin. "Do you have something to say to me,  _Claudio?_ " 

It was times like this where Theodore found it hard to remember that Averick was his age as she bore down upon a seventh-year boy with some sort of unnatural magic that no witch or wizard should be capable. Something crucial had changed in the girl's nature in her time when she had been presumed dead, she never would have outright picked a fight ( _maybe in the first week, but we don't speak of that anymore)_ in fear that she would be defeated, but now she was self-confident, assured that even against a seventh-year, if it came to a duel, she would win. That frightened Theodore -  _what had she learned that made her so easily confident?_

She was challenging him, daring him to defy her again, looking forward to it, anticipating a fight and Demirez looked ready to fight back but was hesitant, he obviously saw the same change that Theodore did and a Snake's top trait is self-preservation for a reason, he knew not to go against unknown opponents and at the moment, Averick was as unknown as it got.

_(How is she alive?)_

_(What happened to her magic?)_

_(What are the markings on her skin?)_

_(Did she really come back from the dead?)_

Averick rose from her chair with a disgusting amount of grace, giving Demirez a smile - mocking, encouraging him to make the wrong decision and the common room was utterly silent, everyone breathlessly awaiting Demirez's decision, waiting for a fight to break out. All of the attention was on them and Theodore was more than nervous, clutching the arms of the chair he was sitting in tightly, teeth gritting together.

Demirez was older, presumably more experienced, presumably knew more spells and even if Averick wasn't such an enigma at the moment, Theodore was sure that Demirez would be just as hesitant to outright challenge her. Averick MacQuayne, Smith, Potter, whatever her surname was now, was  _dangerous_ and that had been made clear last year under the mysterious circumstances over Lewis Freeman's death.

There was something inherently ruthless about Averick that simply couldn't be matched. Theodore was sure her upbringing at the orphanage, though she hadn't gone much into detail about it, certainly had something to do with that fact.

Finally, Demirez shook his head and stormed away, glaring and everyone seemed to let out a breath - Theodore, literally, as he had been holding his breath throughout the entire confrontation.

She turned to where the majority of the older kids were standing and looked at them, expectantly. They lowered their heads, not intending on picking a fight -  _not yet, at least,_ Theodore thought, bitterly. At their submission, Averick looked away, eyes trained on the stairs. "Abraxas, Theodore..." she hesitated before her eyes fell upon Hugh Mulciber, "Mulciber, come with me."

With that, she began walking towards the steps that led up to the girls' rooms and Abraxas and Theodore shared a long look before following after her, a confused Mulciber not far behind them.

* * *

Averick entered her dormitory and a sense of familiarity swept over her as her attention was brought to where her chest was placed on the floor next to the bed that she slept in for the majority of last year. Professor Snape had made it clear, on the first day of first year, that dorms were withstanding - whichever dorm you were assigned in first year would be your dorm for all seven years attending Hogwarts, something Averick enjoyed.

She approached her bed, running her fingers over the soft Acromantula silk sheets.

"Averick," Abraxas interrupted her thoughts and Averick looked at him, annoyed. "Wh-"

"Where is Valac?" she asked sharply. She missed the argumentative snake more than possibly anything else in this castle. 

"I have him," Abraxas said after a moment's hesitation, "I didn't want to leave him at Hogwarts over the summer. He's in the fifth year bo-"

Something sharp pierced her leg and Averick let out a hiss of pain, she looked down furiously only to see the fangs of the very snake she had been talking about piercing her ankle. "You piece of  _shit_ familiar!" Averick shouted, nearly kicking the snake off of her.  _How the hell had he gotten in here? He must have smelled me._

"Averick!" Theodore shouted, eyes wide, but Averick let out a string of curses as she felt Valac's venom sweep through her bloodstream - it was excruciatingly painful, yes, but a familiar's venom couldn't kill its witch or wizard, she took a seat on her bed, clutching her ankle.

" _ **I should have sent you back to that shop, you piece of shit,"**_ Averick hissed out furiously, but Valac only reared his head back and spit some venom at her that Averick, though her vision was blurry and she was in extreme pain, managed to block with a wave of her wand.

" _ **You left,"**_ Valac hissed right back,  _ **"You deserve all of this and more for not taking me with you."**_

 _ **"If you think I had a choice, you fucker,"**_ Averick snapped,  _ **"You're even more stupid than I thought."**_

Valac let out another violent, unintelligible hiss before curling up on the floor,  _ **"I forgive you, now,"**_ he said and Averick nearly snarled.

 _ **"I'm glad**_ _ **,"**_ she spat sarcastically. She glared as Valac slithered up her bed and rested his coffin-shaped head on her lap. He was nearly fifteen feet in length now and thicker than her thigh. Averick didn't think he was going to grow any longer now that he reached this length, which was supposedly the Akzax's maximum growth.

"Averick," Abraxas began, "Do we need to get anti-venom from Snape?"

"No," Averick said, her vision already clearing, "Your familiar can't kill you, it just hurt that's all. I've had worse."

"That's not at all worrying," Abraxas said sarcastically and Averick rolled her eyes. "How did you survive, Averick?"

"Right to the point, aren't you?" Averick drawled, "Not very Slytherin of you, is it?"

"Averick," Abraxas said, serious. 

"The answer to that question is easy," Averick smiled, "I didn't."

Abraxas inhaled, "So you were telling the truth down there?" he asked, but it didn't appear to be a question. Averick nodded once.

"When I grabbed my pendant, it transported me to Roanoke, Virginia of America. The ancestral seat of the House of MacQuayne. The woman who did this to me was an ancestor of mine from the year 265, she slowed the bleeding to explain the history of my house and then let me bleed out and die in order to unlock our family magics, which resurrected me. I've been there since learning about my history and how to use my new magic," Averick explained, looking all three of them in the eyes. She looked over at Theodore, "I'm sure you noticed the change," she said, hinting at his blood trait.

Theodore nodded, "Yeah," he said, "I did. Why are you risking telling us this? I'm sure this isn't the story you gave the professors and aurors. What if someone reads Mulciber or I's mind?"

"You can't tell anyone and no one can force the information out of you by any means. Ancient secrecy wards are very powerful," she said simply.

"How was it an ancestor of yours?" Theodore continued, frowning visibly, "She should be dead, right?"

"She may as well be, now," Averick said, amused, evading the question. She had no intention of telling them the intricacies of the MacQuayne family just yet, not when she barely understood it.

"Why am I here?" Mulciber blurted, "I wasn't part of your court before."

Averick smirked, "When I was dying, you were the only one who acted reasonably and ran to get a teacher. You're quick on your feet, I like that," she said and Mulciber flushed once before nodding, murmuring a 'thank you.'

"What are your family magics?" Abraxas asked, curiously.

Averick's eyes flashed with delight and a smile itched at her lips, "That's for another time," she said, "Right now, I have to go visit Madam Pomfrey before she drags me to the hospital wing herself."

She rose to her feet and began walking towards the door, only to pause when Valac started following her.

 _ **"Don't even bother telling me to stay behind, I'm not leaving you alone again,"**_ he hissed and Averick smirked.

" _ **Very well, let's go."**_


End file.
